A Secret Within a Secret
by Skye410
Summary: Sarah comes to the hometown of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers and Masquerade is messing with her head. Masquerade wants her to join Naga, but she refuses. After matters with the doom dimension, the Brawlers trust him and decides to help him bring down Naga
1. The great first day

"Sarah, hurry up or you'll be late!"

Sarah slowly walked out of her room. "Yeah, mum, I'm just leaving now," she called down. She sighed to herself and murmured. "I'm really not going to like this."

She walked downstairs and looked at her mother waiting for her at the front door. "Oh honey, don't look so glum. You'll have fun today."

"Everyone's gonna look at me as if I'm some weirdo, all because I'm the new girl," Sarah mumbled.

"No they won't," her mother smiled. "I bet you'll make many friends on your first day."

"Yeah, sure," Sarah grumbled. "I'd better go. Bye."

Sarah left the house and walked to school, she hated being the new girl, it had happened so many times when her parents wanted to move to a new place. But now they had decided to stay where they were, which meant that if Sarah made friends or enemies here, they would be around all the time.

Her black hair flowed over her face and she pushed it away, tucking it behind her ear. She tugged at her clothing, her dark blue shirt with a hood was pulled down a little, for the fifth time this morning, and her dark baggy jeans trailed along the ground, nearly fully covering her white shoes. She also had black fingerless gloves and a Bakupod, a thing on her wrist that was used for video calls and other things.

She pulled one strap of her bag over her shoulder again as it slipped off, she hated when it did that.

She looked at the ground as she walked, not sure of whether she really wanted to go to school today.

"Come on, Sarah, it won't be as bad as you think," came a voice and a small white ball appeared on her shoulder, it opened up a little to reveal a little tiger looking thing.

"I know, Tigorra," Sarah sighed. "But every place is different. It's like the six dimensions of Vestroia, they're all different, containing six different Bakugan. So, in my world, not every suburb has the same sort of people."

"I know," Tigorra said. "I'm from the Haos dimension, but you have other Bakugan that are Pyrus. Even though I don't fully understand that, I know that I get along with them, sort of. It'll be the same for you, I'm sure."

"Thanks, Tigorra. You're the best Bakugan ever," Sarah looked up and saw the school not very far away, about ten stories high, full of classrooms, and lots and lots of students.

She entered the school grounds and she looked at her feet. She noticed as she walked passed people on her way to the front office to collect her class schedule, that they were all looking at her, she felt so embarrassed.

She crashed into someone as they stepped in her way and she looked up at the boy and saw the grin on his face. "Sorry.. um, i didn't mean to run into you like that," she murmured, even though it was his fault.

"That's okay," he replied. "It was my fault really. You see, I don't believe I've seen you around here before. What's your name? Mine's Jason."

"I'm Sarah," she looked away from him.

"Nice to meet you," he said and put a hand out.

She looked at the hand. _You can't be rude_, she thought to herself and she took his hand. They shook and took their hands back. "Likewise," she murmured a little late.

She looked away from his green eyes to his other features, he had brown scruffy hair, a white shirt with a black jacket and dark jeans.

"You know, you're quite pretty," Jason smirked, taking a step toward her. She took a step back, suddenly in panic.

He kept stepping towards her, and she kept stepping back. That is, until she was backed against a wall.

Jason put one arm up and rested it on the wall beside her head, his face was so close to hers she could feel his warm breath.

"I'd like to get to know you a little more," he smiled. "How about it, wanna go out?"

"Uh... no thanks," Sarah stumbled, a little frightened by his weird change of mood.

"Aw, don't be like that," he laughed and leaned in.

Her eyes were wide and she pushed him back. He was a little surprised and he walked towards her again.

She was about to growl at him when someone stood in his way, a hand on his chest, stopping him. "Back off and leave her alone, Jason," the brown-haired boy growled.

Jason growled back at him. "What business is it of yours, Dan?"

The Dan guy didn't answer, he just pushed Jason away. Sarah looked at him, he had red pants that had black around the knees, a yellow shirt and a red, short-sleeve jacket that only went to the end of his ribs. The collar was up and he also had green sunnies on his head and dark blue, fingerless gloves on his hands, one nearly reached his elbow and had a Bakupod on it.

Sarah gasped. _So, he Brawls_, she thought, looking at the Bakugan holder on his belt.

"That was too close for comfort," Tigorra sighed.

"I agree," Sarah whispered, taking a deep breath.

Dan turned around and walked over to Sarah. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Sarah blinked at him, not sure of whether she could trust him.

"It's better than hanging around with that Jason guy," Tigorra whispered.

Sarah nodded and followed Dan down the hall, away from Jason.

"You're headed for the front office, right?" Dan asked.

Sarah nodded. "Thanks for helping me out back there."

"No problem, I can see you're not from around here," he smiled. "I'm Daniel, but everybody just calls me Dan-"

"Danny-boy!"

"Danny-boy?" Sarah laughed as she looked at a silver-haired girl running over, she had pink mini shorts and a pink top.

"No, that's just what _she_ calls me," Dan grumbled and the girl nearly knocked him over, hugging him. "AH! Julie get off of me!"

The girl known as Julie didn't let him go. "Here you are Danny," she smiled. "I've been trying to find you everywhere!"

"Julie, cut it out," Dan pushed her off. "I'm not your boyfriend!"

"Um.. I think I can find the front office by myself," Sarah said. "Thanks again." Before Dan even had time to say good-bye, she was walking off, rushing a little.

"Julie, what was that for?" she heard Dan growl.

"Sorry. Who's she? Some stray from out of town?"

Sarah sighed. "I knew it."

"Don't take it that way," Tigorra told her. "It might just be how humans talk in this town."

Sarah was silent as she found the front office and walked in.

"Hello my dear," a woman at the counter greeted her warmly. "You must be Sarah, our newest student?"

"Uh...yes that's me," Sarah replied.

"Here you go, I have your schedule right here for you."

"Um.. thank you," Sarah said and took it.

"Have a good day," the lady said and Sarah nodded before walking out.

She walked down the corridors, trying to find her classroom. She suddenly crashed into the back of someone.

"OW! Sorry, that was my fault, I didn't mean to!" Sarah apologized, cursing herself for running into someone yet again.

"Hey, don't worry about it," she heard a guy's voice and she felt like slapping herself in the face. She looked up at him, he had long black hair tied up in a ponytail, a black shirt with a purple one over the top, black pants and amber eyes. "You're new, aren't you? You look a bit lost, that's how I can tell."

Sarah sighed. "Yes, I'm new here. Everybody seems to notice."

The guy laughed. "Everybody around here does. My name's Shun. What's yours?"

"I'm Sarah," she replied.

"Hey, Shun. Who's this?"

Sarah watched as some more people came over.

"Who are these people I wonder," Tigorra murmured.

Sarah looked at a black-haired girl with blue eyes. She had a black shirt with a hood and medium blue jeans.

"Her name's Sarah," Shun said. "She's new here."

The girl blinked at Sarah. "Yeah, hi," she turned to Shun. "What class do we have first? I forgot."

Shun looked at her with an intense gaze, telling her that she was being rude. She shrugged and he sighed. "We have maths first up."

The girl growled. "Just what I need. Stupid math. All Miss Purdy wants to try and teach us is the Pythagoras Theorem and nobody gets it!"

"That's because you don't pay that much attention, Bella," the blue-haired girl said to the black-haired girl. She turned to Sarah. "Hi, my name's Runo."

Sarah nodded. "Hi."

"I'm Morucho," said a short, blond-haired boy.

"And my name's Alice," said an orange-haired girl.

Shun nudged Bella, she grumbled. "Yeah, my name's Bella."

Sarah felt really out of place, Bella really didn't seem to like her.

"Well, she has great manners, doesn't she?" Tigorra growled sarcastically.

"Tell me about it," Sarah whispered to her Bakugan. "I'm gonna get to my class," she said and walked off.

"Ha," Bella murmured when she thought Sarah was far enough away. "She's a new girl. I think I'll stand back and keep an eye on that one."

"At least try to get to know her," Shun growled. "That was really rude."

"What are you, my father teaching me how to behave?" Bella growled back. "I'll get to know her from the side-lines. Then maybe I'll be a little nicer."

Sarah kept walking. "So far, two people," she murmured.

"Be happy it's only two," Tigorra sighed. "Not including that Jason kid."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sarah said. "Oh well."

Sarah found her maths classroom and walked in, only to find a group of kids circled around Dan. They all looked excited about something that he was holding. It was a tiny red ball.

"Oh wow, is that really the one and only Draganoid!?" one kid exclaimed.

"Yep," Dan said proudly.

"Draganoid?" Tigorra murmured.

"You know that Bakugan" Sarah asked, standing at the door.

"Yes, he's a Pyrus Bakugan," Tigorra replied. "He's know as the fiercest Bakugan in Pyrus space back in Vestroia."

"Oh wow, so he talks?"

"Yes," Tigorra watched as Dan tried to get Draganoid to open up. "Well.. he's supposed to."

"Bakugan, stand!" Dan said and threw his arm forward, expecting the ball to open up. "Bakugan, stand!" he repeated. "Stand!.... Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand!"

Sarah laughed to herself. "It doesn't look like he's having much luck."

"Dan, are you sure it's really Draganoid or are you just making it up?" one girl muttered.

The other kids started agreeing.

"Ah! Come on Drago!" Dan said to the red ball. "You're embarrassing me!"

Tigorra laughed. "Stubborn as always."

"Forget about that, Dan" one boy growled. "Did you remember to do your homework?"

Dan suddenly looked scared and he rushed from kid to kid. "No! I forgot! Can I borrow your notes? Please, let me borrow your notes or I'm toast."

Nobody helped him.

"Why is nobody seated?"

Everyone looked scared and they ran to their seats, Sarah looked over her shoulder at a really grumpy looking teacher. "What about you, young lady?"

"Um...."

"Excuse me," said a voice and Bella pushed her way passed and walked over to her seat, Shun came next.

"Why are the two of you late again?" the teacher turner her attention to them.

"Don't know," Bella grumbled. "Lost track of the time we suppose. Sorry." She didn't sound sorry.

The teacher turned back to Sarah. "Oh, you're the new girl. I apologize. Take a seat."

Sarah looked around, there was two spare seats, she decided to take the spare seat that was next to Dan. She walked over to it and put her bag under her chair before sitting down.

"Hey, sorry about Julie before," Dan said. "She does that."

"No worries," Sarah murmured. "Hey, I saw you had some trouble with your Bakugan. Draganoid, right?"

"Yeah, that's him. I just call him Drago," Dan replied.

"Let me see," Sarah said.

"Um.. alright," Dan said and held out his Bakugan. Sarah took it and put it on her desk.

"Hey, Drago," she said and took Tigorra off her shoulder, putting her in front of the red ball. "This is Tigorra. Why don't you say hello to her?"

The ball suddenly opened up. "Tigorra!?"

"Hello, Draganoid," Tigorra replied.

"Whoa!" Dan exclaimed. "So he does talk! Hey, Drago, why didn't you open up for me!?"

"I'm not some toy, human!" Drago growled.

"Wow, see everybody!" Dan yelled out. "Drago talked, did you hear? He said he wasn't just some toy!"

"Daniel?"

Dan was suddenly scared. He looked at the teacher. "Yes, Miss Purdy!?"

"Can you hear my voice?" she said. "Detention for the rest of the semester!!!!!"

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dan exclaimed and sat down.

"Gee, sorry," Sarah murmured.

"Ah, not your fault," Dan sighed and she gave Drago back to him. "So, you Brawl?"

Sarah nodded. "Tigorra's my best Bakugan." She put Tigorra back on her left shoulder.

"Greetings," Tigorra said to Dan.

"Hi," Dan said back.

They heard the teacher cough and they looked to the front of the class. "Did you two just hear that? What is the answer to this question?"

Sarah looked at the board, there was a right-angled triangle with two numbers on the shortest sides and an 'x' on the longest side. The teacher was using the Pythagoras Theorem. She quickly ran through it in her head. Putting each equation in place thoughtfully.

"The answer is 11," Sarah answered.

"Oh really?" Miss Purdy said. "Well, then I hope you don't mind explaining how you got your answer?"

Everyone turned to look at her, even Bella.

She took a deep breath. "Well, the point is to find the length of the side with the x. So x squared equals 8 squared + 9 squared. Then move it down to make it x squared equals 64 + 72. Level it down again to make it x squared equals 136. So the next stage, you change squared, into square root because that's the opposite of it. So x equals the square root of 136. Which means that x equals 11."

Miss Purdy blinked at her. "That is correct. But let's see if you can figure this one out." She started writing another one on the board, the shortest sides measuring up to 4 and 7, x remaining a mystery.

The teacher turned around to watch Sarah examine the equation, everyone was watching her, she hoped she didn't get the answer wrong. At last she spoke. "It's 8."

The teacher looked at her. "That is correct."

Sarah breathed. "What is your name?" the teacher asked.

"Sarah," she replied.

The teacher nodded. "It's good to have a student that understands the Pythagoras Theorem."

"We studied it already at my old school last year," Sarah said. "We didn't stop studying it until everybody learned it."

"How long did it take for you to learn it?"

"One lesson."

Everyone gasped. Sarah heard one kid whisper. "She must be really smart."

"No kidding, if she studied it last year," another kid murmured back, Sarah felt out of place again.

"That was cool," Dan smiled. "You gotta teach me how to do that."

"Um.. yeah, sure," Sarah replied.

Tigorra turned to look at her. "See, aren't you glad you decided to come today?"

"Yeah I suppose- Hey! How did you know I was planning to skip!?"

"I know nearly everything that crosses your mind, I've known you for too long," Tigorra purred.

Sarah grumbled. "I hate that."

"Why were you planning on skipping?" Dan asked.

Sarah looked at him. "I hate first days. I've been through so many."

"Why?"

"My parents used to move a lot."

"Oh, that must have been hard, making friends and then having to leave them."

"I didn't really leave them," Sarah said. "They were all Brawlers so I keep in touch with them online."

"That seems fair, are you going to move again from here?"

"No, my parents have decided to stay here for good."

Dan smiled.

"Bella! Get your feet off your desk!"

Sarah and Dan looked up to see Miss Purdy looking at Bella, she had her feet up on her desk and she was leaning back on her chair. "Make me."

The teacher growled. "BELLA!!!!!!"

Bella made it look like her ears hurt. "Gees, Miss, you don't have to yell... I'M RIGHT HERE YA KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she yelled back and a smirk crossed her face when the teacher turned red.

"Is she always like that?" Sarah whispered to Dan.

"Yep, that's Bella for ya. Have you met her?"

"Yes...." Sarah mumbled. "But she didn't seem to like me."

"She was rude?"

Sarah nodded.

"Sorry about that, she's like that to every new kid," Dan sighed. "She seems to prefer getting to know them from a distance before really becoming their friend."

"Oh.."

"Bella!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"Keep your voice down!"

"You!"

The teacher growled. "GET OUT!"

Bella didn't move. "Who's gonna make me?"

The teacher was about to grab her but Bella threw her arm up. "Hey, hey, hey! No touchie! Teachers aren't allowed to do that."

"GET OUT!"

"This is actually quite funny," Sarah laughed.

Bella looked back at Sarah, a smirk on her face. Bella nodded to her. Sarah was surprised.

"Bella? Did you hear me?"

Dan smiled. "I think we're out of here," he whispered.

"What?" Sarah murmured.

"No, I don't think so," Bella replied. "You've been yelling at me so I've become a little deaf."

The teacher walked right up to Bella. "Alright. GET! OUT!!!!!!!!!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Bella smiled. "Okay."

She grabbed her bag and jumped up. "Shun, Dan, come on."

Dan and Shun grabbed their bags.

"You too, new girl," Bella said to Sarah.

Sarah blinked. "Um.."

"Sarah, you'll get into trouble," Tigorra said.

"Sarah, come on," Shun smiled. "Hurry up before the teacher stops us."

Sarah looked at Dan. "Come on," he said.

Sarah shrugged, grabbed her bag and followed Bella, Shun and Dan out the door. Bella laughed as they ran down the corridor with the teacher yelling at them to come back.

"That was smooth," Shun commented. "She didn't blow up this time."

"Yeah, that was funny though," Bella grinned. She looked at Sarah. "Sorry I was rude to you before, I'm like that. But you seem to be like us."

"Like... you?" Sarah was confused.

"You may be quiet, shy, a goodie-goodie and smart, but inside, you're begging to burst out of your shell and cause chaos for the teachers," Bella explained.

"Well... I suppose," Sarah nodded.

"Sarah, why are you being so stupid!?" Tigorra growled. "You shouldn't have done that! It's your first day and your first class and you had to run out!"

"Chill," Sarah smiled at her Bakugan. "At least I came to school. Be happy for that."

"Is that your Bakugan?" Shun asked as they stopped around a corner and sat down to catch their breath.

Sarah nodded. "This is Tigorra. She's my only Haos Bakugan, the rest are Pyrus."

"Cool," Shun said. "But I thought a Brawler only had one type of Attribute Bakugan."

"Not everybody," Bella said. "I have a few different ones. That I've never used before," she added quietly.

Dan shrugged. "So, what rank are you?"

Shun and Bella looked at her.

Sarah looked at her Bakupod and pressed a button. She looked at a list of people. "Fourth," she announced. "Dan is third, Shun is second and Masquerade is first."

"You know Masquerade!?" Bella, Shun and Dan murmured.

Sarah nodded. "I met him when I first came to this town. He doesn't seem like a person that uses his Bakugan for good reasons."

"He's not," Dan said. "He's helping an evil Bakugan called Naga to try and gain control over the Infinity Core. You know, the one that controls the balance between our world and the Bakugan world."

"Yeah, I know about Naga," Sarah looked at Tigorra. "I was told that he was absorbed by the Silent Core because he couldn't control its power."  
"That's right," said a green Bakugan on Shun's shoulder that looked like a bird. "But now he's trying to get the Infinity Core as well."

"I see," Sarah blinked.

"It's good to see you, Skyress," Tigorra said.

"You know her?" Sarah asked.

"Yes," Tigorra purred.

"Hello, Tigorra," Skyress replied. "I haven't seen you in ages-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" said another voice and a red ball jumped up on Bella's shoulder, opening up. "Tigorra? No way! How did _you_ get to this dimension!?

"Thanks for the warm welcome," Tigorra said sarcastically. "It's good to see you too, _Wolfress_."

Sarah and Bella blinked. "You two don't like each other?" Bella asked.

"No!" the two Bakugan growled and turned away from each other.

"Why not?" Shun asked.

"No reason," Wolfress growled.

"Tell us," Dan urged.

"I think I know the reason," Drago said, opening up on Dan's shoulder. "I knew Wolfress while we were in Pyrus space back in Vestroia. She was a proud beast, no one got in her way. But one day, a Haos Bakugan somehow ended up in Pyrus, she was also a proud beast, but also one of the fiercest beasts in Haos. Wolfress didn't like her and they battled, it ended in a tie and they've hated each other since. That Haos Bakugan was in fact Tigorra."

"Wow," Dan murmured.

"Hey, Wolfress I was nice to Sarah, why can't you be nice to Tigorra?" Bella growled.

"I don't have to be!" Wolfress growled back.

Sarah looked at her own Bakugan, but had no time to speak.

"What are you four doing out of class?"

They all looked up and saw a teacher, he had his hands on his hips and he looked very strict.

"Uh...." Dan murmured.

"We're done for," Bella muttered.

Sarah looked around. "No we're not," she whispered.

"What?" Bella whispered back.

"Just follow my lead," Sarah whispered and stood up. "Sorry sir, we just needed to talk to one another about something important."

"Come with me then, I will take you back to your class," he said and Sarah signaled for the others to stand up too.

They all followed he teacher down the corridor, that was until Sarah took a deep breath. She looked at the others and nodded to a door. They looked back at her as if she was crazy. "Do you want to go back to class or not?" Sarah whispered.

Bella smirked. "Alright, lead the way, Sarah."

"Hurry up, you four," the teacher growled.

"Sorry sir," Sarah said. "But we've made other plans."

He turned around.

"Let's go," Sarah said and they all ran through the fire escape doors, running up to the roof.

"Get back here!" they heard the teacher call.

"Sorry," Bella yelled down. "I don't think you can control us now, not when we've got a new troublemaker in this school." They kept running up.

"Slow down you guys," Dan mumbled.

Sarah and Bella didn't slow down, they kept running up and up and up, side by side, Shun stuck by Dan.

"How do they get so much energy?" Shun sighed.

"No idea," Dan replied.

Sarah and Bella pushed open the doors at the top and walked out onto the roof. "It's cooler up here than I thought," Sarah sighed.

Shun and Dan joined them on the roof and they sat down somewhere.

"That was fun," Bella smiled. "Nice plan, Sarah."

"Thanks."

"Well, well, well, the new girl is a bad girl."

They spun around, Sarah recognized that voice. They saw two guys standing there, one with brown, scruffy hair, the other with black.

"What do you two want?" Bella growled.

"Not glad to see us, Bella?" the black-haired boy smiled. "I thought you'd be glad to see me at least."

"In your dreams!" Bella growled.

"Exactly."

Bella gagged.

"Hello, Sarah," Jason smiled. "What are you doing out of class?"

"None of your business," Sarah told him.

"Don't be like that," he sighed. "Be nice."

"What if I don't want to be?" Sarah retorted.

Jason walked over to her and she stood up, facing him. "You're acting different than you did when we met earlier. You were really shy and quiet. Even apologizing for me stepping in your way and making you run into me."

"You haven't seen the real me," Sarah said simply. "The only way people do, is through a Bakugan battle."

"Ah, so you do Brawl," the other guy smiled. "Alright, you and wanna Brawl Jason?"

Jason pulled out a card. "Sarah? Are you gonna Brawl or not?"

Sarah glared at him and in one swift movement, she had a card held in front of her face. "You're on. But don't come crying to me when you lose!"

"I won't lose," Jason smiled.

"Field, open!" they all said, Dan, Shun, Bella and the other guy held out cards too.

They were suddenly in another dimension, time in the other world had stopped. Bella, the other guy, Dan and Shun were about to watch the battle.

"Gate card, set!" the two of them said and threw down a card. Sarah's card landed in front of Jason and grew bigger, ready to have a Bakugan placed on it. Jason's card landed in front of her.

"I'll start," Jason said and grabbed a black ball. "Bakugan, Brawl!" he threw it down on his card. "Darkus Stinglash, stand!"

Sarah watched as a purple light flew up and a huge scorpion looking thing appeared.

"Battle begin," Sarah heard her Bakupod say. "Stinglash at 330g's."  
"Alright, my turn," Sarah said and grabbed a red ball. "Bakugan, Brawl!" she threw it down on Jason's card in front of Stinglash. "Pyrus Griffin, stand!"

The red ball opened up and in a flash of red light, a lion with wings and a long tail appeared.

"Griffin at 360g's," said her Bakupod.

"Let's get this party started," Jason said. "Gate card, open! Darkus field!"

"This doesn't look good," Tigorra said, floating in the air beside Sarah. Sarah nodded and looked at her Bakupod as the card went completely black.

"Stinglash power increase to 430g's. Griffin power decrease to 300g's"

"Alright," Sarah grabbed a card from a small box on the side of her belt, the small box on her other side had her Bakugan. "Ability card, activate! Fire Tornado!"

Griffin was suddenly surrounded by fire and the Bakupods spoke.

"Griffin power increase to 460g's."

Jason smiled and held up a card of his own.

"Damn!" Sarah growled.

"Ability card, activate! Poison stinger strike!"

Sarah watched as the tail of Stinglash glowed purple.

"Stinglash power increase to 530g's," the Bakupods spoke.

The tail came down and hit Griffin. The power was so great that Sarah was thrown back. Her Bakugan became a ball again and landed beside her.

"What's the matter, Sarah?" Jason called. "Am I too strong for you? Who's gonna go crying to who now?"

Sarah sat up, her body shaking. "That was a lucky win," she growled. "You won't be so lucky next round."

Jason growled as she got up, putting her Bakugan away. "Alright," he growled as his Stinglash returned to him. He threw another card down. "Gate card, set! Bakugan, Brawl! Darkus Ravenoid, stand!"

Another black ball landed on Sarah's gate card. In a flash of purple light, a bird appeared.

"Alright then," Sarah smiled. "A snack for my Bakugan."

"Sarah, throw down your Serpanoid," Tigorra told her.

"What!? Are you crazy, Serpanoid's power level is weaker than Ravenoid's!" Sarah objected.

"Trust me!" Tigorra said. "Do it!"

Sarah grumbled. "Alright, let's give it a shot. Bakugan-"

"Sarah, wait!"

Sarah stopped mid throw and turned to look at the little red Bakugan on Bella's shoulder. "Don't throw that one down!" Wolfress growled. "You'll lose for sure!"

"What do you know, Wolfress!?" Tigorra growled. "If she throws down Serpanoid she can win this round!"

"No she can't, you and I both know that Serpanoid is too weak!"

"Yes, I know that, but-"

"Guys, I know what I'm doing!" Sarah growled. "Just watch and learn, I'll win this battle."

"Sarah, I'm sure you should take Wolfress's advice seriously, she knows a lot about battling," Shun said.

"I know!" Sarah growled. "But so do I. I'm rank number four remember. Now just let me do this!"

There were no more objections.

Sarah sighed and threw her Bakugan. "Bakugan, Brawl! Serpanoid, stand!"

A huge serpent appeared and the red light dimmed.

"Battle continue. Ravenoid power level at 380g's. Serpanoid power level at 320g's," the Bakupods said.

"I hope she knows what she's doing," Skyress said.

"Me too," Shun sighed.

"Alright, Ravenoid, get that snake!" Jason commanded.

Ravenoid flew at Serpanoid.

"Not so fast!" Sarah said and everyone was alert. "Gate card, open! Flaming Field!"

Fire appeared everywhere and Serpanoid didn't seem bothered.

"Serpanoid power increase to 420g's."

"Two can play at that game, girly," Jason growled. "Ability card, activate!" he held up a card. "Darkus Storm Breaker!"

Wind started flying around Ravenoid and it was dark, like smoke.

"Ravenoid power increase to 480g's," the Bakupods spoke.

"What did I tell you!?" Wolfress growled.

"She's not done yet," Dan said and everyone watching looked at him.

Ravenoid flew at Serpanoid. "You can't beat me!" Jason laughed.

"I wasn't finished," Sarah said and held out a card. "Ability card, activate! Armored Fangs!"

"What!?" everyone gasped.

"I've never heard of that card before!" Bella exclaimed.

"Serpanoid power increase to 520g's," the Bakupods said.

"No way!" Jason exclaimed.

"Get em, Serpanoid!" Sarah yelled.

Serpanoid's fangs shone silver and it lunged forward and bit down on Ravenoid's wing. It screeched and turned into a ball again, returning to Jason.

Serpanoid became a ball and returned to Sarah. She caught it and put it away. "I told ya."

"What!? How!?" Jason exclaimed.

"That's my secret," Sarah smiled and threw down another card. "Gate card, set!"

"Wow, she wasn't kidding," Dan heard the other boy say, his name was Koga. "So this is really her, huh?"

Jason growled. "Alright, if this is how you wanna play. You're going down this round! Bakugan, Brawl! Darkus Fear Ripper, stand!"

"Darkus Fear Ripper!? How'd he get his hands on one of those!?" Dan exclaimed. "She's in trouble!"

"Just wait and see what happens," Shun told him and Dan turned his head to the battle.

A giant human looking beast with purple claws appeared on Sarah's gate card, Sarah blinked at it with surprise. "That's impossible, I thought only Masquerade had a Fear Ripper," Sarah murmured.

"Fear Ripper at 360g's," the Bakupods said.

"Okay, Tigorra, I'm putting you in," Sarah said.

"Right, I'm ready!" Tigorra went into her little ball and fell into Sarah's hands.

"We're not playing anymore, Jason," Sarah said. "This is the real deal. Get ready for it!"

Jason's eyes widened. "Bakugan, Brawl! Tigorra, stand!" she yelled and threw a white ball with golden stripes. It landed in front of Fear Ripper and opened up. A white light appeared and a huge tiger rose up, its fur snow white and its stripes and claws, golden.

"N-no way!" Jason and Koga yelled. "So you have the legendary Tigorra!?"

Sarah nodded and an evil smirk crossed her face.

"Ha, you won't beat me and my master with that kitty cat!" Fear Ripper laughed.

Sarah's eyes widened. "It talks!?!? Tigorra!"

Tigorra nodded and Sarah jumped up, landing on the giant tiger's head and standing up with her arms crossed. "This is it," Tigorra said. "It's time we won this battle."

"I don't think so," Jason said and Fear Ripper picked him up, putting him on his shoulder. "Ability card, activate! Darkus sword!"

A black sword appeared in Fear Ripper's hands, the Bakugan laughed.

"Fear Ripper power increase to 460g's. Tigorra power decrease to 340g's," the Bakupod said.

Sarah held up a card, she waited until Fear Ripper got ready to strike.

"Now, Sarah!"

"Got it! Ability activate! Slicing Claw!"

Tigorra's claws shone golden and nearly lit up the entire field.

"Wow, I've never seen a battle so intense," Skyress commented. "Tigorra really is the strongest Bakugan of Haos. One day she might even become an Ultimate Bakugan."

"Tigorra power level increase to 440g's."

"She's still below by 20g's!" Dan exclaimed.

"Give it time, Daniel," Drago said. "Have faith in Sarah and Tigorra, they work as one."

"As.... one?"

"Watch," Drago instructed and Dan looked up at Tigorra with Sarah on her head.

"Go get them, Fear Ripper," Jason said. Fear Ripper nodded and ran at Tigorra and Sarah.

"Sarah, use the gate card, now," Tigorra said.

"Run forward, Tigorra," Sarah said.

"What!?"

"Trust me," Sarah smiled.

Tigorra nodded. "Okay." She ran forward.

"Crazy fool!" Jason laughed.

"Gate card, open!" Sarah yelled. "Sunrise!"

"What!?" Jason growled.

The card below them shone and lit up the entire field, the tips of Tigorra's fur shone like a glistening silver.

"Tigorra power increase by 200g's."

"640g's," Sarah smiled. "I like those odds. Get em, Tigorra!"

Tigorra swung her claws forward, Fear Ripper did the same.

CLASH!!!!

The claws of both Bakugan collided and electricity went flying as Dark power clashed with Light power.

Sarah tried to hang on but the power was so strong, she was thrown back, Jason was the same.

"Sarah!" Dan exclaimed and ran forward. He jumped up and caught her in his arms. He landed on the ground in a crouch position and stood up properly, looking down at Sarah. She blinked up at him.

"Thanks, Dan," she smiled and looked over to Jason, he hit the ground hard. Fear Ripper became a ball and landed beside Jason. Tigorra returned to Sarah and Sarah caught her. "Good job, Tigorra. I couldn't have asked for a better battle from you."

"Why thank you, Sarah- Sarah!?"

Dan looked from the Bakugan to Sarah, she had her eyes closed and her head resting on his chest. "Don't worry, Tigorra, she's fine," Dan said. "She's just exhausted."

They returned to their own world and time started up again. "That was some battle," Drago said. "Now do you see what I meant, Daniel?"

"Yeah," Dan replied.

"Is she alright?" Shun asked as him and Bella ran forward to stand beside him.

"Yeah, she's fine," Dan said. "She just passed out."

"Poor kid," Shun said and watched Koga run over to Jason.

"Ah!" Sarah gasped and her friends looked at her, she was still asleep, but she looked like she was in pain. She gripped her shirt, right over her heart and her body shook.

"Oh, not this again!" Tigorra fretted.

"What? What's going on!?" Bella exclaimed.

"Sometimes, when she's asleep, she gets these weird dreams that really hurt her. She gets scared of them and is afraid of going to sleep, but she does. It's a normal thing for her now," Tigorra sighed.

"What are the dreams about?" Dan asked.

"I don't know," Tigorra admitted. "She refuses to tell anybody, not even her parents. Her parents tried taking her to see a councilor but Sarah wouldn't tell them anything."

"Why not?"

"I have no idea."

"They must really scare her then," Shun murmured.

"They do."

"So how do we help her?" Dan asked. "Do we wake her up-"

"NO!"

Dan was surprised by Tigorra's angry tone. "Do _not_, under _**any**_ circumstances, wake her up while she's having one of those dreams!"

"Umm... why not?"

Tigorra was silent. "Just don't do it."

Dan, Shun and Bella looked at each other with worried expressions. What was going on?

"AH!" they heard Sarah gasp. But then she cringed, as if she had been hit in the stomach and she coughed, a bit of blood going with it. She put her arms up and looked like they were grabbing something that was at her throat, she started to choke. Blood ran down her mouth. "No! Please, no!" she cried out and tears ran down her face. She suddenly screamed and everyone's eyes were extremely wide. Her hands suddenly fell onto her chest and she was quiet.

"It's over," Tigorra sighed.


	2. What's wrong with the new girl?

"What was that!?!?!" Bella yelled.

"I don't know," Tigorra explained. "All I know is that whatever happens in her dreams, happens in real life. This only started happening when she came here."

Bella turned to look at Jason and Koga, but they were gone. _Good riddance_, she thought.

"What happens now?" Shun asked Tigorra. "What do we do?"

"You can't do anything," Tigorra said. "Unless we know what she experiences in her dreams, there's nothing anybody can do."

Dan looked down at Sarah, she looked so scared, and blood was still coming from her mouth. "Tigorra?"

"Yes?"

"You say that whatever happens in her dreams, happens in real life?"

"Yes."

"What would happen if......" Dan blinked at Sarah, her face was now pale.

"If what?" Shun asked. "What are you getting at, Dan?"

"What if she died in her dreams?" Dan asked Tigorra.

Tigorra was quiet, she couldn't answer that one.

"Tigorra?" Bella murmured. "What would happen?"

Tigorra was still quiet.

"Tigorra?" Skyress said. "Why won't you tell us? What would happen to her?"

"Take a wild guess," Tigorra said.

Dan breathed. "I thought so."

"What, Dan?" Bella growled. "Can someone tell me what would happen to her!?"

"If she was killed in her dreams," Dan said. "She would die in real life."

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Bella yelled. "This has to be a joke! How did these dreams start!?"

"I don't know!" Tigorra growled. "All I know is that she's been having dreams after we moved here." _After she met someone_, she added silently.

Skyress murmured something that the others didn't catch.

"So, there has to be a reason behind it," Shun said.

"Yeah," Dan nodded. "I say we find out who's been giving her these dreams and why."

Shun nodded. "We should try and find a way to stop it."

"But we barely even know her," Bella sighed. "As much as I agree with you guys, what business is it of ours? I mean, we might even end up in the same fix she is."

"She's our friend now, Bella," Shun said. "And we help our friends, isn't that what you said when you first met Runo and Alice and they were having troubles with coping with the new school because guys were hassling them?"

"Uh.... yeah, I guess you're right," Bella sighed. "Alright, we'll try and find out who this creep is and why the hell they're giving Sarah these stupid dreams."

"You would really do that for Sarah?" Tigorra asked.

"Of course," Dan looked at Sarah again. "That's what friends do."

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?"

"So, you're awake," Drago observed. "How was your dream?"

Sarah was silent, she wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Sarah, tell us what that dream was about," Shun insisted. "It seemed rather scary for you to scream like that."

"Don't worry about it," Sarah said. "I don't want anyone to know about it."

"Why not?" Bella asked.

"Because," was all Sarah said, she tried to stand up on her own, but Dan wouldn't let her.

"Oh, no you don't," Dan said. "You don't look fit enough to stand."

"Then let me sit down," Sarah argued.

"Gees, he caught you when you fell off Tigorra's head!" Wolfress growled. "Show some gratitude for what he did!"

Sarah growled and pushed against Dan's chest, forcing him to let her go. "Thanks," she mumbled and walked towards the doors to the roof, not realizing that Tigorra was with Dan.

"She gets like that when someone asks about her dreams," Tigorra said. "Please don't take it personally. She calms down and apologizes later on."

Dan was a little shocked. "That was a weird mood change she just had. I never expected her to have a temper like that."

"Come on, we'd better follow her," Shun sighed. "We're in the same class as her remember?"

"Yeah, come on," Dan said and they walked after Sarah, Tigorra on Dan's shoulder, next to Drago.

"Ha, stupid kids," a guy laughed, watching Sarah push her way out of Dan's arms and growl at her friends before walking off. "They can't help her. It's her fault she gets those dreams anyway. They'll give up on her after a while of her fierce temper. Sarah seems very guarded, she won't let anyone in on our secret."

The guy watched Sarah's friends walk after her. "They cannot help her. That dream will haunt her forever."

Dan looked over his shoulder before he went through the door, he looked up to the top of the gym, no one was there._ I must have imagined it_, he thought and followed the others.

Sarah walked through the corridors to her classroom. She sighed, she couldn't believe that she had the dream when she was around her friends, and now they probably wouldn't leave her alone until she told them about it, and she had no intentions of it.

"So, what's up, Sarah?"

Sarah stopped and growled, clenching her fists. _Why is everything getting on my nerves today_!?!?! she thought.

She shivered as someone's hands held her fists and she felt someone's warm breath on the back of her neck. "What do you want now!?" she growled.

"Calm down," she heard him murmur. "Relax a little would ya, why are you so tense?"

"None of your business," Sarah growled. "So, back off!" She swung one arm back and the guy stepped back, she glared at him.

"Don't be like that," he smiled and pushed her against a wall, holding her arms so she couldn't push him off. "Loosen up."

"Why should I?" she growled at him. "Back off and leave me alone, Jason!"

"Why?"

"Because I'll hit you if you don't!" Sarah growled.

"You're a girl, you can't hit," Jason smiled and leaned in to her.

Sarah growled and turned her head just in time. He kissed her on the cheek and she gagged. He leaned back and stood up straight, only to find her glaring daggers at him. "What'd you turn your head for?" he asked with a smirk.

"I am so gonna smash you in the face!" Sarah growled.

"No you won't," Jason was about to lean in again when Sarah pushed forward and threw him off of her. He stumbled to his feet. "Whoa, don't be mean, Sarah," he smirked. "We're having fun, aren't we?"

"No, not at all," Sarah snarled, lifting a fist in front of her face. "Touch me again and you're toast!"

Jason walked up to her and put his hand over her lifted fist. "Settle down, gorgeous."

Sarah growled. "THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She threw her other fist up and slammed it into his stomach. She tore her other hand free and threw it forward, her fist collided with his face.

Sarah stood over him, fists clenched tightly. "I warned you, Jason!" she snarled. "You're done for!"

Jason jumped to his feet and Sarah was about to bash the hell out of the scared boy but one guy grabbed her fist and her shoulder, another guy stood in her way. She glared up at Shun standing in front of her, then at Dan holding her. "Get out of my way!" she growled.

"Chill out, Sarah!" Dan growled back. "This guy ain't worth it!"

Sarah and Dan stared at each other for a few moments, then she grumbled and relaxed. He let her go and she stood up straight. Shun looked over his shoulder, Jason had taken off.

"Why did you get in my way?" Sarah growled.

"Why were you going to smash him?" Dan growled back.

Sarah glared at him, he looked back at her, clearly not pleased by her little show.

"Sarah, don't try and do that again!" Tigorra growled.

"Tigorra!? I didn't know you were with Dan! I thought you were just quiet," Sarah said.

Tigorra jumped onto Sarah's shoulder. "No, I was on Dan's shoulder when you took off."

"Sorry," Sarah mumbled and looked at Dan and Shun, sighing. "Thanks guys."

Dan and Shun relaxed. "Sarah, what is going on?" Shun asked. "First you get mad at us about asking about your dream, and then you try to bash Jason-"

"Wait a second," Dan said and put a hand on Sarah's cheek, brushing his fingers over it. "What's this red mark from?"

Sarah growled. "Jason."

Shun and Dan exchanged a glance. "He tried to kiss you again?" Dan asked. Sarah nodded. Dan gagged and Shun just looked disgusted.

"See why I was going to bash that creep?" Sarah smirked.

"Chill out," Dan sighed. "We're sorry about asking about the dream. We're just worried about you."

Sarah suddenly growled again. "Well don't be!"

"Sorry," Shun said. "But you're our friend, and we worry about our friends."

"Yeah, we won't ask about the dreams," Dan said. "Just please, don't be snappy at us."

Sarah breathed. "Sorry guys, I guess I get worked up when people ask about the dreams. I don't mean to snap at you guys."

"That's okay," Dan sighed and suddenly, Bella was on Sarah's other side with an evil smirk on her face.

Sarah turned her head to look at her. "When did you get there? And.... what are you up to-" Sarah was suddenly pushed by Bella, right into Dan's arms. Sarah blinked and saw Bella run and hide behind Shun. "Bella!!!!!" Sarah grumbled. "What'd you push me for-" she looked up at Dan, he looked down at her. "Um.............." her face went red. "Hi?"

"Hi...." Dan murmured, Sarah wasn't the only one going red in the face.

"Haha," Bella laughed, poking her head over Shun's shoulder. But she regretted it when Dan and Sarah looked right at her. "Uh-oh."

"Bella?" Dan murmured quietly. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you like her and she likes you," Bella smirked but suddenly cracked up laughing and fell back, dragging Shun with her.

"Bella!!!!!" Shun growled. "Stop doing that!!!!!"

"Sorry. Accident," Bella said.

"Yeah, and so was the other two thousand times you've done that," Shun grumbled sarcastically.

"Um.... Dan?" Sarah murmured.

Dan looked down at her.

"I can stand on my own now I think," Sarah finished.

"Oh... sorry!" Dan said and went red in the face again, helping her stand up straight and took his hands back.

"Haha! I knew it!" Bella laughed even harder. "Dan, you are so red right now! Hahahahahahaha! Sarah, you're no better! Hahahahaha!!!!!"

"Bella?" Sarah smirked.

Bella looked up. "What?"

"You like Shun," was all Sarah said. Bella went red and Sarah started laughing, leaning on Dan's shoulder to keep herself up.

Bella jumped up. "YOU'RE DEAD!!!!!!"

"Oh, so you do like him?" Sarah laughed. "Bella and Shun, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!! Wait a second....... oh crap!" Sarah looked at Bella, she was cracking her knuckles.

"You're toast, Sarah!" Bella grumbled.

Sarah blinked. "Um........... See ya!" Sarah bolted down the corridor.

"Get back here!!!!" Bella called and ran after her.

Dan and Shun were just standing there. "What..... just happened?" Shun asked.

"Something about me and Sarah, and you and Bella," Dan replied, blinking as Sarah turned down a corridor and skidded to a stop.

"AAAHHH!!!!!!!! SCARY PERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sarah yelled and Bella stopped beside her.

"What!?" Dan and Shun called. "What are you talking about?"

Sarah and Bella stepped back and walked backwards towards the boys, a tall man in a suit was walking after them.

"Crap!" Dan exclaimed. "Not the principle!"

Sarah and Bella reached the guys and stood beside them.

"What are you four doing out of class?" the principle said. "And Sarah, this is your first day, what are you doing outside of class?"

"Um....... chillin'?" Sarah replied, glancing at Dan for some reason.

"You all should be in class," he said. "What classes do you have?"

"M-" was all Bella was able to say.

"Hey, Principle Scotts!!!!!"

The principle turned around and Sarah looked passed him to see three guys dressed in skaterboy clothes; baggy jeans, tilted caps, baggy-ish shirts and skateboards in one hand. In their other hand, each boy was throwing a small ball thing up and catching it.

"Just in time," Bella whispered.

"Who are they?" Sarah whispered the question.

"That's CJ, MJ and JD," Dan whispered to her. "They're the skaterboys of the school. Always ditching class, they're friends of ours."

"Christopher James, Joseph Daniels, Mitchell John, what are you three doing out of class?" the principle growled.

"We've been looking for you," the blond-haired boy that was known as Christopher, he had dark baggy jeans, a white shirt and a red and white cap, nearly covering his right eye. "We brought you a cheer-up present."

"Oh really, and what would that be?"

The brown-haired boy with gray baggy jeans, black shirt and black and white cap that was known as Joseph, smirked, throwing the ball thing up and catching it again. "Prepare for a soaking."

"We're got plenty of water balloons," the black-haired boy smiled. He had a white cap with light-blue baggy jeans and a white shirt. He was obviously Mitchell.

Sarah felt someone grab her arm and pull her gently. She looked and saw Dan looking at her. "Come on," he whispered.

Sarah nodded and followed him and the others out of the road. They ran up the side of the corridor and joined CJ, MJ and JD.

"Great timing," Bella smiled. "Thanks guys."

"Yeah, we owe ya one," Sarah sighed.

MJ nodded to her and turned back to the principle. "Alright boys, principle soaking time!"

MJ, CJ and JD threw water balloons and they hit the principle, soaking his nice, clean suit.

"Can I throw one?" Bella asked and CJ handed her a water balloon. She smirked. "Hey, Principle Scotts, this is for calling my parents that day I went nuts and ran around the school!" she threw the water balloon and it hit him in the face.

"Nice shot, Bells," CJ commented and Hi-Fived her.

"You wanna try it?" MJ asked Sarah. "Wait a second, aren't you the quiet new girl I heard Jason talking about?"

Sarah nodded. "That's me. Just, cut out the quiet bit." MJ handed her a water balloon.

"Sarah, don't do it!" Tigorra growled.

"Stop acting like my mother," Sarah mumbled and aimed for the principle.

"I don't care if I act like your mother or not!" Tigorra growled. "Don't do it!"

"Be quiet, Tigorra," Sarah murmured. "Let me have some fun."

Tigorra was silent with annoyance and Sarah was about to throw it.

"Wait, wait, wait," MJ laughed. "If you aim like that you'll hit the roof!"

Sarah looked over her shoulder and saw MJ behind her. He put his hand on her arm that had the water balloon and helped her aim, also moving her body around so she could throw better. She felt a burning in her cheeks as he did this and hoped her cheeks weren't going red.

"That's better," MJ smiled. "Now throw."

Sarah nodded and threw it with all the force she had, MJ and the others were quite surprised by how much strength she put into it.

The water balloon flew through the air and hit the principle in the forehead, water went all over him and Sarah cracked up laughing. She held her stomach and suddenly fell on her back, still laughing.

MJ looked down at her. "And here I believed what Jason said about you. I stand corrected."

"You might not hear Jason saying she's very quiet," Dan murmured. "Not when people see his black eye."

MJ spun around. "What!?"

"She punched him in the face," Dan answered simply. "He tried coming on to her again, like he does with lots of girls."

"Yeah, he's a stupid pervert so I hit him," Sarah sounded like a child. "............................Can someone help me up?"

Both Dan and MJ went to help her up and they both looked at each other, not sure of who should help her.

"Just, somebody help me up!!!!!" Sarah whined and MJ stood back while Dan helped her up. "Thank you," she mumbled and leaned on Dan's shoulder to support herself. She felt MJ looking at Dan, she wondered why.

"You kids are in so much trouble!" the principle yelled. "Sarah, you parents will be the first to get called!"

"See if I care!" Sarah yelled back, standing up on her own. "I'm allowed to do whatever I want! You can't stop me!"

Dan put his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, Sarah. Calm down a little."

Sarah snorted and turned back to Dan, only to freeze when she nearly crashed into his chest. She looked up at him. "You gotta stop doing that," she mumbled.

"Doing what?" Dan asked.

"Standing right behind me, it's creepy."

"How?"

"I don't know, it just is," Sarah smirked and walked passed him, her arm brushing against his. "Come on guys, we should get out of here," she added to the others.

"She's right," JD said. "Let's go!"

Sarah looked back at the principle before running after the others, laughing.

Sarah looked up at the sky, her hands behind her head as she walked home.

"Sarah, why did you do all that today?"

"Tigorra," Sarah sighed. "It was all just a bit of fun. I'm a teenager remember?"

"Yes, I know," Tigorra growled. "But you usually do what you're told."

"Yeah well now I don't-" Sarah stopped mid-speech and looked to the side, something far away caught her attention. "Is that a skate park?"

"Sarah, you told your mother you'd be home right after school," Sarah heard Tigorra murmur.

"Yeah and I will be, but I'll just be making a small detour," Sarah smiled and started walking towards the skate park. She didn't think it would be very big.

She walked up to the skate park and looked around, there were a huge amount of concrete ramps and lots of people, including girls wearing clothes Sarah would die before she ever wore. She watched the guys go up and down ramps on their skateboards, some fell off and laughed before trying again.

Sarah smiled, it felt like her old home, except that the skate park was a whole lot bigger.

A guy stopped right next to Sarah on his skateboard and looked up. "Hey, you were the girl that MJ helped throw a water bomb, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Sarah smiled, she recognized JD.

The guy nodded at her.

"Hey, JD, who's the chick?" one guy called.

"Yeah, is she your girlfriend or something?" another guy laughed.

"Cut it out, all of you!" came a voice and Sarah saw MJ walk over. "Hey," he greeted her.

"Sup," she replied.

"Wow, she talks like a skatergirl," JD commented.

MJ smiled. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I saw it while I was walking home and thought I'd check it out," Sarah said. She heard the guys around them muttering something, she didn't get it.

"I apologize," MJ said. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself properly this morning. I'm Mitchell, but everyone just calls me MJ." He put his hand out.

Sarah heard the guys mutter again, she ignored them. "I'm Sarah," she replied and took his hand. They shook and took their hands back. Suddenly, Sarah heard the guys clapping and whistling in a cheering way.

"What's that about?" Sarah asked.

"I accepted you here," MJ smiled. "If I didn't, they wouldn't quite welcome you. Unless they decided to hit on you."

Sarah shivered at the thought. "I don't need anymore of that," she mumbled.

"Yeah, Jason did it, right?" MJ sighed. She nodded. "Sorry about him, he just can't help himself when he sees a pretty girl. He can't get a girlfriend so he hits on pretty much anyone."

"That's a scary thought," Sarah murmured. "He already tried to kiss me, twice."

"Did he?" JD asked.

"No, the first time, Dan stopped him. The second time, I turned my head and he got my cheek."

"That was when you punched him, wasn't it?" MJ laughed.

Sarah nodded with a smile. "I was gonna bash that guy."

"Why didn't you?" CJ said, stopped beside MJ.

"Dan and Shun got in the way," Sarah replied.

"Were you really gonna bash Jason?!" said another guy that came over, nearly MJ's entire group of friends crowded around.

"Uh... Sarah," Tigorra whispered. "This doesn't seem safe to me."

"Of course I was," Sarah replied to the guy. "I told him to leave me alone and he didn't, so I was gonna smash his head in."

"Hi-five, girl!" the guy said and put his hand up. Sarah smiled and hi-fived him.

"Dude, no one here likes Jason," another guy said, standing beside CJ.

"Why don't you bash him then?" Sarah asked.

"Ah, they'd get the cops onto us and they'd suspend us from the skate park," another guy grumbled.

"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that," Sarah smiled. "But if he touches me again he's dead."

"That's the stuff we like to hear around here," one guy smiled and looked her up and down. "So, can you use a skate board?"

"A little, I guess," Sarah admitted. "I've never really tried."

MJ smiled. "Well, there's a first time for everything," he held out his board.

Sarah blinked at it. "What?"

"Take it, try and skate," MJ insisted.

"Um......." Sarah took it. "Okay....."

The guys helped her until she was sure she had gotten it right, she fell over a few times and laughed it off, the guys were having a ball trying to help her.

"I think I got it now," Sarah smiled.

"Try the ramp," one guy said, she knew him as Steven.

Sarah looked up at the ramp. "Um......... I don't know....."

"You'll be fine," JD insisted. "Come on, give it a go."

"Sarah, you should be heading home!" Tigorra growled to her.

"Be quiet, Tigorra," Sarah growled back. "I'll get home later."

"Well? Are you gonna try it, Sarah?" CJ asked. "Even if you do fall off, it won't kill ya. You've seen us fall off, we get right back up."

"I guess I could try it...." Sarah looked at the ramp again.

"That-a girl," MJ smiled.

CJ led her to the top of the ramp and she looked down. "Oh god," she said and turned around, crashing into CJ's chest. "Ow."

He caught her before she fell back. "Chill out," he said. "It's fun once you get used to it."

Sarah looked back at the ramp, she didn't like it.

CJ smiled sympathetically. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Sarah nodded. "I don't wanna do it."

"Alright," CJ said.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Steven called. "She going down or what?"

"No," CJ called back.

Sarah suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head and an image formed, of a guy with blond spikey hair and a mask. "AAHH!!!" she cried out and her legs gave way.


	3. Masquerade

"Sarah!!!" MJ exclaimed and CJ went to catch her but he was too late. Sarah fell off the ramp and tumbled down. She stopped when she reached the bottom and the guys ran over, MJ crouched down beside her. "You alright?"

Sarah sat up, holding her head, she looked like she was in a massive amount of pain. "AAHHH!!!" she cried out again.

"Sarah? What's the matter!?" JD murmured.

"_Sarah_," she heard the voice in her head. "_Come to me, join the side of evil_."

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sarah screamed. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The guys looked at one another. What was going on?

"_Join me, you will become stronger_," the voice said again.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!! GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Um..... Sarah?" MJ asked, really worried.

Sarah looked like she was suddenly punched in the face and she fell back, her arms were up as if they were holding something at her neck and she was trying to get it off.

"Sarah! What's going on!?" MJ asked.

Sarah didn't reply, blood started falling from the corner of her mouth and the guys started to panic.

"_I will see you soon_," the voice said and Sarah's body went limp.

"Sarah?"

Sarah sat up, she was breathing hard and her eyes were wide with fear.

"Are you alright?" Steven asked.

Sarah looked up at them. "Oh god! I can't believe that just happened!" she exclaimed, talking to herself. "That's never happened when I was awake! I gotta get out of here!"

The guys watched as Sarah got up and ran off.

"Hey, Sarah! Wait!" MJ called and ran after her.

Sarah got out of the skate park and stopped running when she was a fair distance away, tears streaming down her face. She saw MJ stop beside her and she tried to wipe her tears away.

"Sarah, what was that about?" MJ asked.

"Nothing, forget it," Sarah murmured.

MJ didn't look like he was giving up. "It didn't look like nothing."

"It's a normal thing for me," Sarah said, wiping the blood from her mouth.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Sarah insisted. "I don't want to tell you....."

MJ looked hurt.

"Oh, MJ, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she sighed. "I haven't told anybody about it, not even my parents."

"I see," MJ looked at her. "Are you the type of person that keeps to themselves?"

Sarah nodded. "But the crazy stuff only started happening after I moved here. After I met someone."

"Someone? Who was it? Sarah- Sarah!"

Sarah suddenly collapsed and MJ caught her. "My head hurts," she murmured as MJ put her back on her feet.

"I can imagine why," he smiled. "You're one of the strangest people I have ever met."

"Uh..... thanks.... I think," Sarah said and MJ helped her walk.

"Where do you live? I'll take you home," MJ offered.

"Um... I live near Smith street. I don't remember the name of my street," Sarah replied. "And thank you, MJ."

"No worries," MJ said and caught her again as she stumbled.

The rest of the way to Sarah's house they were talking about the places she used to live, how many people she knew and how she was liking her new school. MJ seemed really interested to learn a little more about her.

"That girl is becoming quite a bother."

"I know, Naga," the blond-haired guy sighed. "But she will join us. Just give me more time."

"We need her to help us get the Infinity Core," the dragon looking creature said. "The sooner you get her to join us, the better! Now go!"

"Yes, Naga," the blond-haired guy nodded and was gone, leaving the dragon alone in his dark ball.

"Thanks again, MJ," Sarah said as he walked her up to her front door and she walked in. "You've been a big help today."

"No problems," MJ smiled. "Glad to be of help. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Sarah smiled and nodded. "See ya."

"Bye," MJ turned and walked off down the street. Sarah watched him go until he was out of sight, and then she walked inside and upstairs.

"Hello dear, you're home late," she heard her mother call from the kitchen and she shoved her bag in her cupboard before walking back down and greeting her mother. "How was school?"

"Great," Sarah smiled. "Besides having the dream thing twice, both times I had blood in my mouth."

"Oh, honey, you need to tell someone about it," her mother sighed. "If someone knew, they could help you."

"I don't want anyone to know," Sarah replied calmly, she couldn't get mad at her mother. "But school was great-"  
RING RING.... RING RING...

Sarah watched as her mother answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, Principle Scotts? How can I help you?"

Sarah looked up at her mother as she listened to what the principle was telling her. Sarah slowly backed away towards the staircase, looking as innocent as possible.

Her mother nodded. "Yes, I apologize. She has never acted like that before...... Yes, of course I will deal with it. Good-bye." Her mother put the phone down. "Sarah?"

Sarah turned and bolted upstairs, running into her room and locking the door.

"Sarah!!!" her mother yelled.

"Yeah?" Sarah called down, glad she was in the security of her own room.

"Come out here so we can talk this over," her mother said.

"But, I don't wanna!" Sarah whined like a kid and went to her computer.

"Sarah, you haven't been behaving the way you usually do," Tigorra said.

"I know, but things change," Sarah sighed. "I know it may seem like I don't listen to you now but I do. I just want a bit of fun."

"Yes, but you shouldn't act as if the rules don't apply to you now that you've recently started at the new school."

Sarah shrugged and put her Bakugan on her desk next to her computer in a little bed she made. Tigorra slept in it every night.

Sarah logged onto her computer and went online, turning her video thing on. She looked at who else was online, Bella, Shun, Dan, Runo and Alice. She suddenly jumped back as screens came up of her friends. "Hey, Sarah, did Principle Scotts call your mother?" Bella asked.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, he did. So I've locked myself in my room so that my mother doesn't tell me off for it."

"You'll have to go down eventually," Alice pointed out. "For dinner and stuff."

"Yeah I know, but for now I'm just gonna stay up here," Sarah smiled. "If I'm lucky, she'll forget about it and let me off the hook."

"If you're lucky," Runo murmured. "You're never lucky."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sarah grumbled.

"Well firstly, you were unlucky to have Jason on your case...." Runo explained.

"Anything else?"

".............. Nothing that I can think of right now."

Sarah poked her tongue out. "See, I'm just not lucky sometimes. Jason I can handle.... it's just other things I can't.........."

"What do you mean?" Shun asked.

Sarah looked at the screen. "Nothing, never mind," she faked a smile.

Bella shrugged, she didn't believe it but she looked prepared not to talk about it if it was going to upset Sarah so much. "Okay, but if you want to talk about anything we're always here for you. You know that."

"Yes," Sarah replied. "Thanks."

"No worries," Bella grinned.

A knock came at Sarah's bedroom door. "Sarah, you have a visitor here to see you."

"Who is it?" Sarah asked.

"A boy, he didn't say his name," her mother replied.

Sarah looked back at the computer screen. "I'll be back guys, I'm going to see who this person is."

"Alright," Dan said.

Sarah stood up. "You stay here Tigorra." She walked to her door and unlocked it. She opened the door and walked downstairs, following her mother. She went to the front door whilst her mother went back to the kitchen. She took one look at the person standing there and turned to leave him at the door. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Sarah, I need to speak to you."

"Why?" Sarah growled and looked at the blond-haired boy with a triangular mask.

"You know why," he replied calmly. He added more quietly. "Or would you prefer me to get inside your head and cause you more pain?"

Sarah flinched and pulled her arm away. "Masquerade, why do you do it? What did I do to make you give me those dreams?"

"Sarah," Sarah's mother said, coming to the door. "Who is this young boy?"

Masquerade coughed. "Um.... is there some place we can talk in private?"

Sarah's mother looked at him and Sarah sighed. "Yeah sure. Follow me."

Sarah turned and walked upstairs, Masquerade followed her. She stopped at her door and turned to face him. "Wait here."

He nodded and Sarah walked into her room, she thanked that it was clean, her mother must have cleaned it while she was at school. She went to her computer and looked at her waiting friends. "Sorry guys, I have to go."

"Why? Who was at the door?" Runo asked.

Sarah hesitated. "A friend," she said at last. "See ya at school tomorrow." Before anyone could speak, Sarah went offline.

She sighed and looked at Tigorra before facing Masquerade. "Alright, you can come in."

"I take it your friends would be mad if they knew I was here?" Masquerade said as he walked in, shutting the door behind him and Sarah sat down on her chair, he stayed standing.

"You guessed right," Sarah said.

"Why is he here?!" Tigorra growled.

"Calm down, little Bakugan," Masquerade said. "I haven't come to hurt her."

"I don't trust you," Tigorra replied simply.

"I'm not asking you to," Masquerade replied, just as simply.

"So what do you want, Masquerade?" Sarah sighed.

Masquerade looked back at Sarah. "You should already know. Naga wants you to join us and help us get the Infinity core."

"And _you_ know I won't help you destroy our world and the Bakugan world!" Sarah growled at him, standing up.

"But we need your help," he started getting impatient. "And if you keep refusing, your dreams will continue to get worse-"

"Wait!" Tigorra growled. "Are _you_ the one giving Sarah all these dreams!?"

"Indeed I am," Masquerade smiled.

"If I could I would tear you apart, Masquerade!" Tigorra snarled.

"Keep dreaming, little Bakugan."

"I won't help you, Masquerade!" Sarah broke their argument. "So stop asking me to and stop giving me those dreams!"

"I'm afraid I can't just give up, Naga ordered me to get you to join us, and you will," he walked over to her and stood right in front of her, he put his hands on her shoulders. "We _need_ you to help us. You're one of the best brawlers I have ever come across, Naga needs you to help us, please, Sarah. Please."

Sarah had never heard Masquerade say please, it shocked her. She still growled and used her left hand to take his off her shoulders. "Go find someone else, because I'm not helping you destroy the human world and Vestroia, because that's all that would happen. If Naga wants the Infinity core for his own power, he can get it himself!"

Masquerade growled. "Sarah, you don't get it-"

"Yes, I do!" Sarah raised her voice in a growl. "All you're doing is helping him get what he wants, as soon as he gets his power he'll toss you aside and destroy you as well! I'd rather go down fighting him than go down for helping him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"She's right," Tigorra said. "And I would never help you either. Even if she did, I wouldn't!"

"Shut up, you!" Masquerade snapped at Tigorra. He turned back to Sarah. "Are you sure you won't join us?"

She looked at him, not able to see into his eyes because of his mask. "Very sure."

Masquerade shrugged. "This isn't the end, you know that." He turned to leave.

"I won't ever join you and Naga, that's a promise, Masquerade," Sarah growled. "But I have one more question..."

"What is it?" he didn't even turn around to face her.

"Why are you giving me these dreams? Why are you getting inside my head and trying to kill me in my dreams?"

"That's two questions."

"Does it look like I care? Now answer my question-_**s**_!"

"Naga told me to do it," Masquerade explained, sighing. "I have no choice but to obey Naga."

"But you try to kill me in those dreams," Sarah growled. "Why?"

"I don't know why-"

"Cut the crap!" Sarah growled, taking a step forward. "Naga obviously doesn't want you to kill me, or even try, so why do you?! You should know because _you're_ doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Masquerade spun around and Sarah jumped back, her hand slipping onto her desk to support herself, her hand bumped the mouse. "Calm down, Sarah. I do it because..... I want you to join us half because Naga ordered it, and half because....... I like you...."

Sarah's eyes were wide. _WHAT_!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! She screamed in her mind.

There was nothing but silence, Masquerade and Sarah just stared at one another, Tigorra didn't understand.

"GGGGRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sarah's heart skipped at least ten beats as she looked over her shoulder at her computer screen, she saw Bella, Dan and Shun on the screen. "Uh-oh......"

"What was that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Dan fell off his chair. Shun was wide eyed with shock, Bella's face was pale and she looked like she was going to be sick, she was also tensed with shock.

"I thought you went offline," Masquerade murmured.

"I did...." Sarah nearly whispered. "My hand knocked the mouse and it must have signed me back in......."

"IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Bella yelled. "WHAT THE HELL IS MASQUERADE DOING AT YOUR HOUSE AND WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST SAY TO YOU!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Masquerade stood rigid, not sure he did the right thing in telling Sarah that he liked her. "I should leave..."

"You should have left before you told me that," Sarah growled.

"You wanted to know," he shrugged.

"Just leave," Sarah growled. "And stop bothering me."

Masquerade looked at her and shrugged. "This isn't the end and you know it." He turned and he walked to her door, but he stopped. "Usually it's common courtesy to show your guests to the door. You wouldn't want your mother getting curious."

Sarah growled and sighed deeply before walking over. She walked passed him and he followed her down the stairs. She opened the front door and Masquerade stopped. "Thank you," he said, shocking Sarah yet again. "I will see you again."

Sarah didn't say a word and he left, she shut the door and went to go back to her room.

"Sarah? Who was that boy?"

She sighed and turned to her mother. "A friend." She turned back to the stairs.

"And what's this about you truanting class and throwing water bombs at the principle with some other kids?"

"I'm not a teacher's pet," Sarah replied simply, not turning back to her mother. "I choose who I want to be and I have fun doing it. I've made a lot of friends so that's all that matters."

"You're supposed to be a good student.... What happened to make you change? You used to be good at your other school..."

"Well maybe it was because I'd had enough of being the nice, quiet, shy girl after moving around and having to make friends over and over again," Sarah grumbled. "It wasn't easy for me you know." Sarah walked back upstairs and locked her door.

She walked back to her desk and sat down.

"Sarah?"

She looked up at the screen. "Yes, Dan?"

"Why was Masquerade at your house?" Dan asked.

"I don't know," Sarah sighed. "He said something about Naga and the Infinity core and then I accidentally came back online and, well, you heard the rest."

"Naga and the Infinity core?" Shun exclaimed. "What about it?"

Tigorra jumped on the desk in front of the keyboard. "He was asking Sarah to join him and help him get the Infinity core."

"He _**what**_!?!?!?!" Bella exclaimed. "What did you say!? Are you going to help him?!?!"

"No way!!!!" Sarah growled. "Why would I help Naga destroy our worlds!?!?"

Tigorra turned to her. "You should tell them about the dreams to..."

"Dreams?" Dan murmured.

"Nothing, forget it," Sarah mumbled.

"Sarah," Shun said in a calm, yet demanding, voice.

"It's not important, don't worry about it!" Sarah growled.

Shun and Dan looked thoughtful for a moment. Shun was the first to speak. "It's him that's doing it, isn't he?" Dan and Bella looked confused. "Masquerade is the one giving you those dreams?"

Sarah was silent, which was the answer within itself.

"Are you kidding me!?!?!?!" Dan exclaimed. "Masquerade is the one messing with your head and trying to kill you!?!?!?!"

Sarah simply nodded, her head hung low.

"But he just said that he liked you," Bella pointed out, gagging as she said it. "Why would he want to kill you if he liked you?" Another gag.

"I don't know," Sarah sighed. "But yes, it is Masquerade and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Sarah, you must know why he's doing it-" Dan started, but was cut short.

Sarah stood up, her hands slamming on the desk. "I don't _**know**_ why he's doing it! If I did I would have it sorted by now! Why can't you just drop the subject and stop bothering to worry about me!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"But we do worry about you!" Shun said. "You're our friend."

"Yeah," Bella added. "So stop acting like you've got this sorted out by yourself. You can't do this alone!"

"I can at least try," Sarah growled, sitting back down but showing signs of signing off.

Bella stood up now, she wasn't very happy. "Sarah! You won't get far if you keep to yourself and refuse to let anybody help you! Shutting everyone out isn't the way to go! You need to stop acting like you can handle everything thrown at you and start accepting help!"

"What do you know about me anyway!?!?!" Sarah stood up again. "I've only known you guys for a day and you're saying I should as you for help and rest my problems on your shoulders! This is my problem, not yours so butt out!!!!"

"Would you cut the tough talk!" Bella growled. "You're not a hero!"

"I never said I was," Sarah grumbled quietly.

"Stop yelling at each other, please!" Shun growled. "You're gonna give us a headache."

"But Bella's right," Dan murmured. "You do need help."

Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was about to speak but Dan beat her to it.

"I'm not saying you have to ask us for help, but we're here for you if you do want it."

Sarah didn't speak at all and Bella sat down, grumpy.

"Dan's right," Shun sighed. "You may not see that you need help now, but you will later on, and we'll be here to help you whenever you need us."

"I have to go," Sarah murmured. "See you guys tomorrow, maybe."

"Maybe!? What's that supposed to mean!?!?" Bella yelled but Sarah was already gone.

Sarah sat down in her seat, her head leaned back and she blinked at the roof.

"Sarah, they're right-"

"Tigorra, please don't," Sarah sighed.

"But-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Sarah growled. "If you had of kept your mouth shut they wouldn't have insisted that I need help. Because I don't need it! As long as I have you to help me I'll manage by myself..."

Tigorra was quiet, not sure what to say.

"Sarah! Time for dinner!" Sarah's mother called when it was starting to get dark outside.

Sarah sighed and left her room, she'd probably have to talk to her parents about what happened at school. Her father wouldn't be pleased.

"Hey, Sarah."

Sarah turned and saw MJ. "Hi," she replied.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. "You were still a little dizzy when I dropped you off at your house."

"I'm okay," Sarah sighed. "I just wasn't used to it. It has never happened to me when I was awake, it always happened when I was asleep."

MJ smiled and put a hand on her forehead. "At least you're not sick. That's a good thing."

Sarah smiled back. "Yeah," MJ took his hand back. "And thank you for helping me. You didn't need to."

"But I wanted to," he replied.

Sarah nodded her gratitude. "And thanks for trying to teach me to skate yesterday. You and the others."

MJ shrugged. "It was fun. You should stop by the skate park again today."

"Yeah, I think I might," Sarah laughed a little. "Just so you and the guys can laugh at me falling over."

Sarah felt a hand on her shoulder. "You'll always fall over even if you were really good at skating," she recognized CJ's voice, she looked over her shoulder at him. "But we'll help you anyway."

"Thanks," Sarah replied and the three of them laughed. Sarah wondered why CJ hadn't asked about what happened yesterday. She guessed that MJ must have told them not to talk to her about it.

"Look, kid, if you help me get her to join up with me, you will be rewarded greatly."

"Who are you?" Jason growled. "And why do you want Sarah to join you?"

"Call me Masquerade," the blond guy replied. "Now, will you help me or not?"

Jason thought for a moment. "What's in it for me?"

"You will become a great Brawler, one of the best," Masquerade said. "What do you say?"

Jason thought for a few moments, considering his options. "Why do you want Sarah to join you?"

"That's my business," Masquerade smiled.

Jason growled but sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

Masquerade smiled a little more. "Here's what's gonna happen....."

"Where is she!?"

"Calm down, Bella!" Shun sighed. "She was upset last night, you're not gonna yell at her are you?"

Bella was silent she just walked down the corridors in search of her friend. "She needs to realize that she needs our help, whether she wants it or not!"

"Just give it a rest, Bella," Dan said. "Why not give her some time to settle down."

Bella was quiet again, Dan and Shun sighed.

They rounded a corner. "There she is," Bella growled.

Dan and Shun looked nervous as Bella stormed up to Sarah, who was laughing with CJ and MJ. "Not good," Shun sighed.

"Sarah!" Bella yelled and Sarah looked over at her, her muscles tightened, the two skaterboys looked confused.

"Yeah?" Sarah asked.

"Why are you so stubborn!?" Bella growled at once when she reached her. "You _**do**_ need help and you know it!"

Sarah put a hand on her face. "Not this again..."

"What?" CJ murmured.

"Bella, chill out," MJ said. "What are you growling at her for?"

"None of your business!" Bella snapped.

"You should get to your classes," Sarah said to MJ and CJ.

MJ looked concerned, but he turned and left, followed by CJ.

"Alright, Bella. I don't need help," Sarah said once they were gone. "You might think so but I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

Both girls had their fists clenched and they were both growling loudly.

Dan and Shun reached them and they had no idea what to do.

"Why can't you accept the fact you need help!?" Bella growled.

"Why can't _**you**_ accept the fact that I _**don't**_ need anyone's help!?" Sarah growled back.

"Sarah, Bella is right," Wolfress murmured. "If you want to get back at Masquerade then you need our help."

"She has a choice you know!" Tigorra growled at the red Bakugan.

"I thought you agreed with us?" Wolfress growled back. "Sarah needs help and everyone knows it."

"I'm fine on my own!" Sarah yelled. "I managed a few months so I'm pretty sure I can manage through the rest of it!!!!!!"

"You are so thick-headed!!!!!" Bella yelled back at her.

Dan looked at all the people stopping to stare at the two. "Uh, guys.. you might want to keep it down. People are staring at you."

The two of them didn't seem to listen, they just stood there, growling at one another. If looks could kill, they would both be dead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," came a voice. "Calm down, ladies."

Sarah and Bella were forced away from each other, Sarah growled at the hand on her shoulder and looked up at the person she really hated. "What's all the fuss about?" he asked in an amused tone. "Surely you don't need to make a scene out of it."

"Back off, Jason!" Bella growled at him. "What the hell do you want!?!?!"

"Calm down," Jason laughed. "No offense but I came to see Sarah, not you."

Bella didn't look disappointed. "What a guess," she mumbled.

Sarah backed off and Jason blinked at her, a little nervous by the death glare she shot at him.

Dan walked over to Sarah, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sarah?"

"What!?" she snapped.

Dan sighed. "Please, calm down, even a little. You're kinda scaring me."

Sarah blinked at him and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Dan seemed to relax a little. "That's better."

"So what do you want with Sarah this time, Jason?" Shun asked.

Sarah and Dan looked at the brown-haired kid.

"I want to talk to her," Jason said calmly. "Sarah? Will you let me talk to you?"

"Well you're talking now, so you might as well!" Sarah snapped, taking a step forward, Dan pulled her back.

"I meant, in private?" Jason added.

"No!" Dan growled, Sarah looked at him.

"Touchy, touchy," Jason smiled. "What are you, her boyfriend?"

Sarah and Dan looked at each other and quickly looked away, a little red in the face, Dan took his hand back, holding it with his other hand. They both had their backs turned to each other. "No. That's not the case!" Dan said quickly.

"I'm sure," Jason cocked an eyebrow with disbelief. "Then why do you look so embarrassed? The both of you for that matter?"

Dan and Sarah flinched, not sure what to say.

"Well, if you're not her boyfriend, then you won't mind if I talk to her," Jason smiled and grabbed Sarah's arm, beginning to drag her down the corridor.

"Hey! Back off and let go of me!!!!!!!!!" Sarah yelled, punching him in the shoulder. Jason let go in reaction and Sarah ran back to her friends.

"That hurt, ya know!" Jason growled.

"Good," Sarah replied in a kid's voice. "Don't touch me again."

"It was only your arm," Jason laughed. "Geez. Why won't you let me talk to you in private?"

"Talk to me here or not at all," Sarah grumbled. "I don't trust you."

"I don't trust him either," Tigorra murmured.

"Are you scared of me?" Jason smiled.

Sarah shook her head. "I just don't trust you- Ah!"

Sarah fell to her knees, holding her head. "No! Not again!" she growled in pain.

"Sarah!" Dan exclaimed. "What's wrong!?"

"It's Masquerade!" Sarah said, her teeth clenched and her voice shaky with pain.

Bella and Shun exchanged a worried glance.

Dan crouched down beside Sarah, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I thought it was only when you were asleep!"

"I did to!" Sarah managed to growl. "But he did it yesterday too! Aaahhh!!!!!!"

"Sarah, it's alright!" Dan said, really worried. "He can't really hurt you unless he was here. You're safe, it's okay!"

Sarah suddenly screamed and Dan covered his ears, the others did to. "_**GET**_! _**OUT**_! _**OF**_! _**MY**_! _**HEAD**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

People stared at Sarah, not sure of what was going on, they soon walked off thinking she was having a spaz attack.

Jason looked at Sarah, blinking. She finally settled down and her hands dropped to the ground to support her, Dan tried to help. "Is it over now?" he asked quietly.

Sarah took a deep breath. "Yes, it's over." Her body collapsed and Dan caught her before picking her up in his arms.

"Take it easy, Sarah," he murmured.

"I'm okay," Sarah mumbled. "Just dizzy..."

"You should go to the sick bay," Dan advised.

"No. I'm alright."

"You don't like the sick bay?" Shun asked, noticing the reluctance in her voice.

"I hate the sick bay," Sarah replied, but her eyes were getting heavy. Her head leaned against Dan's chest and her eyes closed.

"Okay, to sick bay we go," Dan said.

"No!" Sarah argued, unable to open her eyes.

"You need some rest," Dan told her. "You're going to sick bay."

"I don't want to!"

"Well there's nothing you can really do. You're going and that's that."

Sarah didn't argue again, or even open her mouth. Her breathing became even and Dan knew she had fallen asleep. "Strange girl," he murmured.

"I hope Masquerade doesn't do that again," Bella sighed. "Now he can target her anytime he wants, awake or asleep."

"I think he'll lay back for a while, after all, you heard what he said yesterday," Shun said. Bella shivered. "Hey, Dan. You take Sarah to the sick bay. We'll go to class and tell the teacher where you are."

"Thanks. But depending how long she has to be in there, I'm gonna stay with her," Dan replied. "Just in case."

Shun nodded and looked at Jason. "You can't talk to her now, so get lost."

Jason glared at Shun, he looked like he was going to say something.  
"Just rack off, okay!!!" Bella snarled. "You have no business here so hit the road!!!"

Jason blinked at the fury in Bella's voice. "Fine, I'm going."

Jason turned and walked off, Bella and Shun waved to Dan before going to their fist class.

Dan sighed and walked down the corridor with Sarah in his arms. "Daniel, I have to ask," Drago said with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Dan looked at the Bakugan on his shoulder. "Yeah, what?"

"Why did you go red in the face when Jason asked if you were Sarah's boyfriend?"

Dan went red in the face again. "I.. uh.... I have no idea what you're talking about," he said quickly.

Tigorra laughed. "Dan, do you like her?"

"Why all the questions?" Dan tried to change the subject.

"Because," Tigorra purred. "Now, do you?"

"Uh... no..."

"Sure..." Drago said in a sarcastic tone.

"Just shut up, okay," Dan grumbled. "Shouldn't you be worried about Sarah?"

"She's unconscious and she's fine," Tigorra assured him. "It's fun to interrogate you."

Dan growled and the two Bakugan laughed.


	4. Doom Dimension

"Dan?"

Dan looked at Sarah on the sick bay bed. "So, you're awake now. About time."

Sarah blinked at him, he was sitting on a chair beside the bed. "Why'd you take me to the sick bay?"

"Because you needed to," Dan replied simply putting a hand on her forehead, he looked concerned. "Your fever hasn't dropped...."

Sarah coughed and it sounded choked. "I'm okay, really..."

"You don't need to pretend," Dan smiled. "If you pretend, people won't know if you're telling the truth, and you could get worse and need medical attention or whatever and people won't know."

Sarah laughed but was cut off as she needed to cough again. "Where's Tigorra?"

"She's asleep," Dan told her calmly, looking at the bedside table at the two balls, the red one was Drago and the white one was Tigorra.

Sarah breathed. "How long have I been in here? And why aren't you in class?"

"You've been in here for three hours. And I wanted to keep an eye on you, in case Masquerade tried to hurt you again."

"Thanks, Dan," she closed her eyes again.

"You alright?" he asked.

Sarah nodded. "My eyes are just a little heavy."

Dan sighed and reached his hand out, gentling holding Sarah's hand. He felt Sarah's grip on his hand, he was a little surprised. "Sarah?"

Her eyes slowly opened. "Hmm?"

"What are you going to do about, Masquerade?"

"I don't know," she looked at the ceiling. "I guess the next time I see him I'll brawl him."

"What if you lose?"

"Then I lose," Sarah replied simply. "There's nothing wrong with losing."

Dan took a deep breath. "Sarah, Masquerade has a Doom Card."

Sarah's eyes widened and she sat up. "What!?!?!?!"

"I said-"

"Yeah, I know what you said,but..... How did he get his hands on a Doom Card!?!?!?!"

"I think Hal-G gave it to him," Dan sighed. "But either way, if you lose to him, you could lose Tigorra."

Sarah looked at her sleeping Bakugan. "I don't want to lose Tigorra," she whispered, a tear forming in her right eye.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Dan murmured sympathetically and put a hand on her right cheek, wiping the tear away with his thumb. "You won't lose her. You just have to be careful if you _do_ battle Masquerade."

"Thanks," Sarah sniffed and wiped her index finger over her right eye, Dan took his hand back.

A lady came in. "Sarah, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling alright," Sarah replied.

"She still has a fever," Dan added.

The lady walked over and put a hand on Sarah's forehead, a frown crossing her face. "You should stay in here another half an hour, then you should be able to go."

"Thank you," Sarah nodded and the lady walked out. "I wonder what Bella and Shun are doing..."

"BELLA!!!!!!!! GET DOWN FROM THERE AT ONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Why?" Bella complained in a childish voice. "It's fun up here! I feel tall!"

The teacher didn't look happy. "BELLA!"

"Why are you just yelling at me!?" Bella grumbled, crossing her arms in a stubborn way. She pointed to the blackboard from the teacher's desk that she was standing on. "Why aren't you yelling at Shun?"

The teacher turned around and he growled. "Shun, what do you think you're doing!?"

Shun looked over his shoulder, one arm still up with a piece of chalk in his right hand. He blinked innocently. "I'm drawing. What's wrong with that?"

"Well stop it!"

"Don't you like my drawing?" Shun asked with a slight smirk at the corners of his mouth. "I think it looks good. Don't you think so, Bella?"

Bela jumped down and looked up at the huge picture of a person wearing a suit, he was holding a small bag sort of thing that Shun had colored in pink. "What's it supposed to be?"

"Mr. Peach of course," Shun smiled. "See, it has his bald head with his stupid looking suit and his pink handbag. Not to mention his over-sized clown shoes. And he's skipping."

Bella looked from the picture and back to the teacher, then back to the picture. She cracked up laughing. "Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks just like him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!" Shun started laughing to.

The teacher had his arms crossed and his foot was tapping.

"Uh-oh, I think I made him angry," Shun murmured in a pretend scared voice, the he made himself talk as if he was talking to a baby. "Is Mr. Peachy angry at us? Aw, poor Mr. Peachy."

Bella held her stomach, unable to stop herself from laughing, Shun was pretty much the same. Bella picked up the green chalk and drew grass, and then got a whole range of colors and drew a rainbow above Mr. Peach. Then she drew the flowers.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mr. Peach bellowed.

"He's mad," Bella said quickly, the whole class was trying not to laugh.

"Should we bail?" Shun asked.

Bella thought for a moment. "No, not yet." She jumped up on the teacher's desk and crossed her arms, kicking her legs and doing some macho dance, sending all the paperwork and everything else, to the floor.

Shun smiled and walked to the back of the room, towards the glass enclosures. He looked over his shoulder at Mr. Peach as he stopped in front of one enclosure in particular.

"Shun, what are you doing?" he asked in a terrified voice.

Shun smirked and put his hand in the glass box, a small black, eight-legged, furry creature climbed onto his hand and Shun walked back towards the teacher. Mr. Peach was frightened. "What's the matter, Peachy? Not afraid of poor little Humphrey are you?"

"Keep that thing away from me, Shun!" the teacher growled. "You know I hate spiders!"

"But this one's friendly," Shun insisted and put the huntsman in the teacher's face. Mr. Peach screamed like a little girl and Shun cracked up laughing, so did the rest of the class, Bella was still busy doing her macho dance, but she was still able to laugh!

Shun went and put the spider back and his eyes crossed over another creature in one of the glass enclosures. "Hey, Bella! Not afraid of snakes are ya?"

Bella smiled. "I love snakes!"

Mr. Peach looked frightened as Shun pulled out the non-venomous carpet snake. He pulled it over the glass and set it down on the floor, everyone screamed and jumped on their desks. The snake slithered to the front of the class. "GET THIS CREATURE AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mr. Peach yelled, well, more screamed. "SHUN, BELLA, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE WHEN I GET THE PRINCIPLE IN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Bella and Shun exchanged glances and Bella ran over to Shun, they watched the teacher call the principle over the school phone that every classroom had. "Yes, Principle Scotts, I need you here right now. Bella and Shun are hell for me at the moment!"

Mr. Peach put the phone down and stood at the door so they couldn't escape.

Bella looked nervous. "What are we gonna do?"

Shun though for a moment. "Bella, get on my back," he murmured.

"What!?" she murmured in return.

"Get on my back," Shun repeated.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Bella looked completely confused but she climbed onto Shun's back.

"What are you two doing now?" Mr. Peach asked. "More games?"

"Well if you consider jumping from a five story window a game, then yes," Shun said and opened the window, climbing onto the windowsill. Bella tensed up and her grip around his throat tightened, she was a little scared. "It's okay, Bella," he whispered to her. "I won't let you get hurt."

Bella gulped and just as the principle arrived, Shun jumped out the window. Bella's hold on his neck became a choking-death-grip, she screamed the whole way down.

Shun gracefully landed on the grass at the bottom and his head was spinning, half because he barely had any air, and half because he had the biggest migraine, thanks to Bella for both reasons. He carefully took her arms away from his neck and she stood on her own. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm perfect!" Bella growled. "You could have told me _before_ you jumped!"

"I did."

Bella grumbled something and Shun grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go." He began dragging her back through the school. Bella looked at Shun's hand holding hers and her face went red.

"Okay, Sarah, you can go now."

"Thanks," Sarah murmured and Dan helped her to her feet. Dan grabbed the Bakugan and the two friends left the sick bay, walking down the corridors.

"Daniel?" whispered a voice and Dan looked at Drago on his shoulder. "I saw what you did."

"What?" Dan whispered back. "What are you talking about?"

"Holding her hand," Drago replied. "Wiping away her tear and holding your hand on her cheek. You really do like her, don't you?"

Dan went red in the face. "Um...... I don't know what you're talking about...."

"Sure," Drago laughed.

Sarah turned to look at Dan and Drago. "Oh, so you are awake, Drago," she said. "You and Tigorra were sound asleep before."

Drago didn't say anything more to embarrass Dan. "Yes, we were a little tired."

Sarah smiled. "You're always tired."

"Dan, Sarah!"

The two of them turned around. "Who is it?" Drago said before they saw who it was.

"It's Shun...." Sarah murmured. "And Bella....."

Shun and Bella reached them and stopped, breathing.

Sarah looked at their hands. "Um...."

"When did you get out of sick bay?" Shun asked.

"Just then," Dan replied.

"Um.... Shun?" Bella murmured. Shun looked at her with a confused expression. "Can I have my hand back now?"

Shun's face went red and he let go of her hand instantly, Bella was red as well. Sarah nearly laughed.

"What's so funny!?" Bella growled.

Sarah put a hand over her mouth and tried so hard not to laugh.

"Sarah?" Shun murmured.

Sarah burst out laughing and fell to the ground on her back, her arms out and her knees up, her feet on the ground.

"Why are you laughing?" Bella asked, but she knew what she was going to hear, she regretted asking.

After a few attempted explanations, Sarah took a deep breath. "Bella and Shun, sittin in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!!!" she sang.

Bella and Shun went bright red, Bella glared down at Sarah, who froze.

"Whoops," Sarah mumbled. "Did I say that out loud?"

Dan nodded. Sarah got up and went to run but she crashed into someone, falling back to the ground. "OW, MY NOSE!!!! That hurt!!!!!" she growled and looked up at the person, her hand over her sore nose.

"My apology," he said. "It's not my fault you don't look where you're going."

Dan helped Sarah back to her feet and Sarah growled at the guy. "What do you want, Masquerade?"

"To talk to you."

"Yeah, so did Jason, but then you did it again!" Sarah went to punch him but he was gone.

"Nice punch, but were you intending on hitting someone?" Masquerade's voice said and she felt someone grab the hood of her shirt, near her neck.

She spun around to punch Masquerade again but he was gone again. "Cut it out!" she growled. "Coward!"

Masquerade appeared in front of her and she jumped back, nearly falling over. Masquerade walked over to her and his face was inches from hers. "Be careful who you call a coward, you might just wind up hurt." His hand grabbed her neck.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Bella growled and went to hit Masquerade but she was thrown back by some sort of barrier, Shun crouched down and helped her sit up. "What _was_ that!?"

Sarah was lifted off her feet and she put her hands over Masquerade's arm to try and push it off of her. "How's this for real?" he asked her. "Only in your dreams have you experienced this. How does it feel in reality?"

"_You_.... _**filthy**_.... _**rat**_!" she snarled through choking.

Masquerade growled and swung his arm, letting go of Sarah's neck.

"AH!" she cried out as she crashed into the drinking fountain and it smashed to pieces. Water sprayed out of the pipe and began flooding the floor. She glared up at Masquerade, breathing hard.

"Sarah!" Dan exclaimed and was at her side, crouched down, not caring how soaked he was getting. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm.. fine!" Sarah murmured.

"Do you want to repeat what you just said?" Masquerade smiled.

"I said," Sarah growled. "That you're a _**FILTHY RAT**_!!!!!!!!!"

Masquerade didn't seem happy to hear it again.

"Hey, I thought you liked her!" Bella growled. "How can you say that when you're hurting her!?"

Masquerade looked at Bella, then back at Sarah. He pulled out a card. "Why don't we settle this the easier way."

"Settle what?" Sarah smirked through breathing. "What problem do we have to sort out?"

No reply.

She sighed and stood up, aided by Dan.

"I wanna brawl him!" Bella growled. "Wolfress will tear his Bakugan apart!"

"No way, Bella," Sarah said, pulling out a card. "Masquerade is going down by _my_ hand!"

"Here we go again!" Bella growled, close to yelling. "Why do you have to do everything alone!?!?"

Sarah grumbled something.

"You're not a hero, Sarah!" Bella yelled.

"I know that!" Sarah snapped. "But you're not the one he's trying to kill."

Dan, Bella and Shun stood rigid. "He's _**trying**_ to kill you now!?!?!" Shun exclaimed.

Sarah slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Do you make a habit of 'letting it slip out'?" Masquerade asked her in a cold tone.

"It was an accident!!!" Sarah growled.

"Sarah, will you _please_ tell us what the **hell is going on here**!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Bella yelled.

"You might as well tell them," Masquerade sighed.

Sarah shook her head. "No."

"Why not!?" Dan asked.

"Because......." Sarah looked up at Masquerade. "Are we gonna Brawl or what?"

Masquerade shrugged. "Have it your way."

"I said I wanna Brawl him!" Bella growled.

"I am!"

"I can take on both of you at the same time!" Masquerade laughed. "You're both weak anyway!"

"What was that!?" Bella and Sarah snarled.

Bella and Sarah exchanged glances and nodded. "We'll take him down together," Sarah agreed.

Dan, Shun, Masquerade, Bella and Sarah held up cards. "Field, open!" they all said and time froze as they were sent to a new dimension.

Bella and Sarah were standing side by side, Masquerade a fair distance away, Dan and Shun standing back to watch.

Masquerade held up a card and dropped it. "Doom Card, set." It sank into the ground and Sarah shivered, knowing that if she lost, her Bakugan would be sent to the Doom Dimension, and she didn't want that!

"Gate card, set!" the three Brawlers yelled and threw down a card each, two landed in front of Masquerade and grew larger, Masquerade's landed in front of Sarah.

"You ladies can go first," Masquerade said.

Bella gagged and Sarah took the opportunity to grab a Bakugan. "I'll start off-"

"Hey, no fair!" Bella growled. "Why do you get to start off!?"

"Well I don't see you getting a Bakugan ready," Sarah growled back.

Bella pulled out a Bakugan and Sarah rolled her eyes. She stepped back and bowed. "After you then your Royal Hines."

Bella growled and threw a red ball to her gate card. "Bakugan, Brawl! Serpanoid, stand!"

In a flash of red light, a huge serpent appeared, its fangs looked sharp.

"Battle begin," the Bakupods said. "Serpanoid at 320g's."

Masquerade laughed. "Sarah?"

Sarah looked at him. "What?"

"Your turn."

She rolled her eyes again. "Bakugan, Brawl! Pyrus Griffin, stand!"

A lion crossed with snake and bird appeared in the air above Masquerade's gate card, it looked fierce.

"Pyrus Griffin at 360g's," the Bakupods said.

"Griffin!?" Bella exclaimed. "Against Masquerade's Bakugan, your Griffin doesn't stand a chance! You were stupid to send that one out!"

"Oh, and you can talk!?" Sarah growled at her friend. "Your Serpanoid is weaker than my Griffin!"

"Calm down you two," Shun said. "You're fighting Masquerade, not each other."

Bella and Sarah growled at each other.

"Are you two paying attention?"

They looked onto the field at Masquerade's gate card, a black Bakugan faced Griffin. It was a Darkus Mantris.

"Mantris at 270g's," the Bakupods said.

Sarah laughed. "You're kidding. And you're supposed to be number one on the ranking list. I don't know how you got there with Bakugan as weak as a Mantris!"

"Don't underestimate it!" Bella growled.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Sarah growled back. "Griffin, go get it!"

Sarah watched as her Griffin flew at Mantris, Masquerade didn't look concerned.

"Gate card, open!" Masquerade said simply. "Darkus Field."

Sarah felt the pressure of the sudden breeze as the ground turned black.

"Mantris power increase to 370g's," she heard her Bakupod say.

"Ability card, activate," Masquerade continued. "Slice cutter."

The blades on Mantris's arms glowed silver.

"Mantris power increase to 470gs."

"Mantris, get that Griffin!" Masquerade ordered and the bug went straight for Sarah's Bakugan.

"Alright then," Sarah growled holding up a card and throwing it at Griffin. "Ability card, activate! Firewall!"

Fire circled around Griffin.

"Griffin power increase to 460g's," the Bakupods said.

"Ha!" Masquerade laughed. "Still too weak!"

"I'm not finished!" Sarah said, holding another card. "Ability card, activate! Fire Tornado!"

Masquerade looked at his Bakupod. "Griffin power increase to 560g's."

"You're up, Griffin," Sarah smiled and fire escaped her Bakugan's mouth, flying at Mantris.

"Ability card, activate," Masquerade said. "Marionette."

"No!" Sarah cried.

"Mantris power increase to 570g's. Mantris leading by 10g's."

"Mantris!" Masquerade yelled and the bug attacked Griffin. The Pyrus Bakugan was pulled over to an open black hole and was sucked in, the black hole closed.

"Griffin, no!" Sarah yelled.

"I told you!" Bella growled.

"Well sorry!" Sarah growled back. "I didn't know he was gonna do that now did I!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Chill out would you?" Masquerade laughed as Mantris returned to him. "No need to get snappy at each other."

"Shut up!" Bella growled. "You fight my Bakugan now!"

"Very well," Masquerade said and threw a Bakugan down. "Bakugan, Brawl! Darkus Lazerman, stand!" A huge robot Bakugan appeared in front of Serpanoid.

"Battle continue. Lazerman at 390g's. Leading by 70g's."

"Gate card, open!" Bella said. "Flaming Field!"

Fire replaced the floor and Serpanoid seemed unbothered. "Serpanoid power increase to 420g's. Lazerman power decrease to 290g's."

"Go get em, Serpanoid!" Bella ordered and her Bakugan lunged for the robot guy.

"Ability card, activate! Spice Slayer!"

"Crap!" Bella murmured.

"Lazerman power increase to 390g's."

A sword appeared in the robot's human looking hand and it slammed the sword into the gate card, which shattered.

"What!?" Bella growled.

"My Spice Sayer ability destroys any gate card used against me in battle," Masquerade explained.

Bella heard her Bakupod and looked at it. "Serpanoid power decrease to 320g's. Lazerman power increase to 490g's."

"No way!" Bella cried. "I don't have anything to fight against it!"

"Bella, take this!" Sarah held out a card. "It's the Armored Fangs ability card for my Serpanoid. Take it and you will not lose your Bakugan."

"I don't need your help!" Bella growled.

"So now who's the one that wants to do it on her own!?" Sarah growled loudly. "Without this card, your Bakugan is going to the Doom Dimension!"

Lazerman had attacked Serpanoid and it was beginning to be sucked into the black hole leading to the Doom Dimension.

"I fight with my own cards," Bella said simply, though Sarah knew that her friend didn't want her

Bakugan to go to the Doom Dimension.

"Sarah, you have to help," Tigorra said, floating beside Sarah's head.

Sarah nodded. "Ability card, activate! Armored Fangs!" She threw the card at Serpanoid and it escaped from the black hole.

"Serpanoid power increase to 500g's."

"What did you just do!?" Bella growled.

"I just saved your Bakugan!" Sarah growled back. "You should be grateful!"

Bella shrugged. "Go get em, Serpanoid!"

"A thanks would have been nice," Sarah mumbled.

Serpanoid took down Lazerman and the black Bakugan flew back to Masquerade, Serpanoid returned to Bella. "Thanks, Sarah," she murmured.

Sarah sighed. "You're welcome."

"If you're finished talking," Masquerade said. "Can we get on with this battle?"

Sarah growled. "Tigorra, we're taking him out!" she whispered.

Masquerade held up a card. "Gate card, set!" He threw the card down and it landed in near Sarah, growing larger. "Bakugan, Brawl! Darkus Mantris, stand!"

"Mantris again?" Sarah smiled. "We got this one covered."

"Let's do this," Tigorra said and became a ball, Sarah grabbed her.

"Bakugan, Brawl! Tigorra, stand!"

In a flash of white/yellow light, a white tiger with black stripes and gold claws appeared.

"Tigorra at 380g's. Mantris at 270g's."

In one swift movement, Mantris had been taken down and it returned to Masquerade.

"That was easy," Tigorra said. "But I feel strange...."

Suddenly, Sarah watched in amazement as a black rock appeared around her Bakugan, she couldn't see Tigorra. "What's going on!?"

"She's evolving," Shun explained.

Sarah looked over her shoulder at him. "Evolving?"

"Just watch," Shun smiled and Sarah turned back to her Bakugan.

Sarah heard her Bakupod speak and she looked at it, at Tigorra's power level. "Tigorra power surge. Now at 480g's." She watched the power increase. _What_? She thought. An ability card that she held for Tigorra became white, and then changed. _Thunder claws_?

Sarah looked up at her Bakugan, she wasn't able to see Tigorra, and she was worried.

Suddenly, yellow beams shot out of the cracks in the rock and the whole thing shattered. She put an arm over her face to protect it from the shattered pieces and the fierce breeze.

"Wow!" Bella exclaimed.

Sarah took her arm away and looked up at her Bakugan, Tigorra stood on her four legs, she looked pretty much the same, black stripes, gold claws. But there was armor at the top of her head, gold armor, and she had spikes on her back as well, also gold. "Lightning Tigorra at your service," Tigorra purred.

_Lightning Tigorra......_ Sarah thought. _Wow_!

"She looks amazing," Dan commented.

Sarah smiled and lifted her hand to point at Mantris. "Take him down, Lightning Tigorra!"

"With pleasure!" Tigorra growled and pounced, landing on top of the bug Bakugan and bitting down on one of its claws. It turned into a black ball and returned to Masquerade. Tigorra went back to Sarah.

"That was an excellent battle, Tigorra," Sarah smiled.

"Thank you, Sarah," Tigorra replied. "I feel a lot stronger in my new body. It's thanks to you that I was able to evolve."

"That was cool," Bella said.

"Are you done now?" Masquerade asked. "Because you can talk more after the battle."

Sarah growled. She held up a card and threw it down. "Gate card, set!"

Bella held up a card. "Gate card, set!" She threw it down.

"Bakugan, Brawl!" Sarah yelled, throwing down a white ball. "Haos Lightning Tigorra, stand!"

Tigorra appeared on the card, ready to go.

"Bakugan, Brawl!" Bella threw down a red ball. "Wolfress, stand!"

Sarah watched as a huge red wolf looking Bakugan appeared on Bella's gate card. She was impressed, Wolfress was even cooler than she had first thought. But she wasn't as strong as Tigorra.

"Tigorra at 480g's," the Bakupods said. "Wolfress at 380g's. Waiting for opponent."

Masquerade laughed. "Now, who should I take down first?"

"Battle me first!" Bella growled. "You only have one Bakugan left to Brawl with, I'll take you on!"

"Hey!" Sarah growled. "Tigorra would stand a better chance than your Wolfress would!"

"Just because she evolved doesn't mean that you're suddenly the best Brawler in the world!" Bella growled back.

"I'm better than you are at the moment!"

"You are a better Brawler than me!" Bella growled. "Your ranking is number four! I'm number eight! But I wanna Brawl him-"

"And risk sending Wolfress to the Doom Dimension!?" Sarah interrupted. "I'd do better than you! Let me Brawl Masquerade!"

Bella was about to object. "Isn't it my choice?" Masquerade laughed.

Bella and Sarah sighed and shrugged. "Okay then, who do you want to Brawl?" Bella growled.

"Bakugan, Brawl!" Masquerade threw a black ball onto Sarah's gate card. "Hydranoid, stand!"

Sarah watched as a huge, four legged dragon looking Bakugan appeared in front of Tigorra.

"Hydranoid at 410g's," the Bakupods said.

"410g's!?" Sarah exclaimed. "Is that an evolved Bakugan!?"

"No," Tigorra replied. "But he's close to it."

"You will not defeat me," Hydranoid said.

"Why did you choose to Brawl Sarah and not me!?" Bella growled at Masquerade.

"Because it was her that I originally wanted to Brawl," Masquerade murmured. "Not you."

Bella clenched her fists. "Why her?"

"Does it matter?" Masquerade asked. "Let's get this over and done with."

"Alright," Sarah smiled. "Gate card, open! Sunrise!"

The gate card shone white and Tigorra purred.

"Tigorra power increase to 580g's. Hydranoid power decrease to 310g's."

"Go get him, Tigorra!" Sarah said.

Tigorra ran at Hydranoid.

"I don't think so," Masquerade said. "Ability activate. Terminal Trident!"

Sarah looked at her Bakupod. "Gate card deactivated. Tigorra power returned to 480g's. Hydranoid power returned to 410g's."

"Your Bakugan is still weak!" Sarah said. "Tigorra!"

"This Bakugan is done for!" Tigorra growled and continued running at Hydranoid.

"That wasn't all my Terminal Trident can do," Masquerade said.

Sarah looked back to her Bakupod. "Hydranoid power increase to 510g's."

"Okay. We can fix that," Sarah held up a card. "Ability card, activate! Thunder Claws!"

Lightning lit up the sky and struck Tigorra's claws.

"Tigorra power increase to 580g's."

Masquerade laughed. "Ability card, activate! Dark spirit!"

Purple air flowed around Hydranoid. "Hydranoid power increase to 610g's."

Sarah growled and held up another card. "Ability card, activate! Slicing Claw!"

"Tigorra power increase to 680g's."

"Wow, this battle is so intense!" Dan exclaimed. "I hope Sarah wins, otherwise Tigorra will get sent to the Doom Dimension."

Masquerade held up another card and Sarah's eyes widened, she had nothing else to help out Tigorra! "Ability card, activate! Dark Fangs!"

"I told you, you wouldn't win this battle," Hydranoid said.

"Hydranoid power increase to 710g's," Sarah heard her Bakupod.

"No!" she yelled. "Tigorra!!!!!"

Hydranoid opened its mouth and a large purple ball formed, electricity flowing inside of it. The Darkus Bakugan threw the ball at Tigorra and hit her, making an explosion sound and smoke was everywhere.

When the smoke cleared, Sarah saw Tigorra being dragged towards the black hole, leading to the Doom Dimension. "TIGORRA, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sarah screamed and ran towards Tigorra and the black hole.

"Sarah!" Dan exclaimed and ran after her.

"Sarah, no! Stay back!" Tigorra growled.

"No! I won't let you go, Tigorra!" tears formed in Sarah's eyes.

"Sarah, stop!" Masquerade growled. "What are you doing!?"

Sarah jumped into the black hole. "We're in this together, Tigorra!"

"SARAH!" Bella, Shun, Dan and Masquerade yelled but the black hole closed, both Sarah and Tigorra were gone.


	5. Escaping the Doom Dimension is Imposible

Dan stopped and fell to his knees. "No. SARAH!!!!"

Bella growled. "Masquerade, you're finished! Wolfress, get him!"

"Battle cannot continue," the Bakupods said.

"What!?" Bella exclaimed.

"One battler is missing, Brawl is over."

They were suddenly back to their world and time started up again. Wolfress and Hydranoid turned back into balls and returned to their masters.

"That was stupid of Sarah," Masquerade murmured.

"It's your fault she's in the Doom Dimension!" Dan growled. "How can you say it was stupid? It was your fault!!!"

"Calm down, Dan," Masquerade laughed. "She jumped in after her Bakugan. I didn't know she would do that. But she's gone now, there's nothing you can do."

Dan got up and ran over to Masquerade, throwing his fist forward, but Masquerade was gone. "She's not coming back, Dan," he said, his voice behind him. "Don't go throwing the blame around. It was her fault."

Dan spun around but Masquerade disappeared into thin air. Dan breathed quickly, trying to force back the tears.

"She's gone?" Bella murmured, her head down. "No, she can't be!" Tears fell from her eyes onto the ground.

Shun's fists clenched. "Damn you, Masquerade!" he growled quietly.

Dan looked at the water still being thrown out of the pipe of the drinking fountain. _I'll get you for this, Masquerade_, he thought. Tears ran down his face.

"What's going on here?"

The three friends looked up at the principle. "What did you do to the drinking fountain!?"

Dan growled. "It wasn't our fault, okay! We didn't mean for it to happen so don't go blaming us!!!"  
The principle looked shocked, and angry. "Don't growl at me young man! I want this cleaned up as soon as we get someone to fix it."

"Well don't look at us," Dan growled and turned, walking off, Shun and Bella followed him.

"Come back here!" They didn't stop, they just kept walking to their class. _I thought Sarah was with the three of them_, he thought, confused.

"Tigorra! Tigorra, where are you!?" Sarah called. She still couldn't believe that she jumped through the black hole after Tigorra. But she didn't want to lose her, so she did it.

She climbed to the top of a small hill and looked out at the dark, barren land. The ground was black and the sky was dark, there was the occasional cliff, and Sarah couldn't see any Bakugan.

She sighed and sat down on a big rock. "Where could Tigorra be? And if this really is the Doom Dimension, where are all the Bakugan that have been sent here?"

She looked down at the rock she was sitting on and yelped before jumping off of it and staring at it. "What the!?" She was staring at a turtle looking creature made of stone. "Isn't that a Juggernoid?" Then it hit her. "Every Bakugan that gets sent here eventually turns to stone....." her head snapped up. "TIGORRA!!!!!" She was worried about her Bakugan, she hoped that Tigorra would be okay.

She looked around her, there were statues of many different Bakugan, but then she saw a black creature with wings, sitting on top of a statue. "Not all Bakugan turn to stone, little human," it laughed. Sarah realized that it was a Darkus attributed Bakugan, she didn't recognize it though. It jumped off the rock and flew at her. "You will make a good snack!"

Sarah screamed and put her arms over her face, closing her eyes.

"Don't you dare hurt her, Reaper!"

Sarah heard a roar and she took her arms away from her face, opening her eyes and she saw a huge tiger standing in front of her, protecting her from the Darkus Bakugan.

"Ah, Tigorra. How nice to see you. I never imagined a Bakugan like you being sent to this dimension. I guess you must have lost your edge."

"We'll see about that!" Tigorra jumped at the Bakugan. "Thunder Claws!"

Lightning struck down from the sky and hit Tigorra's golden claws and the Haos Bakugan raked her claws across Reaper, he got up and flew away in pain.

"Tigorra!" Sarah exclaimed and ran over to her, Tigorra turned around to face her.

"Sarah, why did you come here?" Tigorra asked her, putting her head down and nudging Sarah's shoulder with her nose. "It's dangerous. You will never be able to return to your world."

"I couldn't bare to have you taken away from me," Sarah felt tears coming. "You're one of the greatest friends I could ever have. I never want to lose you."

"Thank you, Sarah," Tigorra sighed. "Now climb on. Let's try and see if we _can_ find a way out of here."

Sarah nodded and climbed up to Tigorra's head, holding onto the new armor she wore.

"Hold on tight," Tigorra said and she raced off.

"Bella, Shun, Dan? Are the three of you alright?"

Bella lifted her head and looked at the teacher, usually she would be annoying Miss Purdy, but she wasn't in the mood. She hadn't been in a good mood for a week at least, ever since Sarah went to the Doom dimension with Tigorra. She put her chin back on the desk, putting her arms over her face to hide it. Dan and Shun were just as quiet, Dan had taken Sarah's leave harder than any of them. He always seemed sad, but whenever someone pushed passed his limits, he'd snap, not caring who it was.

"Did you hear me, you three?" Miss Purdy growled. "Tell me, what is the matter with you?"

"Can't you see that we're not in the mood to talk!?" Dan snapped.

_There he goes again_, Bella thought.

"Don't growl at me young man-"

"Then stop bugging us and asking what's wrong when we clearly don't wanna talk about it!!!!"

"I'm your teacher, I should know what's wrong-"

"Would you just shut up and butt out of everything you nosy rat!" Dan snapped again.

"How dare you speak to me like that!!!!!!!"

"Get over it," Dan growled, grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder, then he walked out of the classroom.

Shun sighed. "Come on, Bella."

Shun and Bella grabbed their bags and followed Dan, leaving the teacher shocked.

"WHAT!?"

"I'm sorry, Naga. I didn't expect her to jump in after her Bakugan. I was just trying to get Tigorra out of the way so that she had no other choice but to join us-"

"Fool!" the dragon growled. "Tigorra is one of the strongest Haos Bakugan. We need her powers to help us get the Infinity core!"

"What do you want me to do then?"

"I will tell you in a moment. But I have to ask you... When did this happen, Masquerade?"

Masquerade gulped. "Uh.... Last week-"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Masquerade took a few steps back. "I was unsure whether or not to tell you-"

"You should tell me everything!!!"

"I'm sorry, Naga! What do you want me to do now?"

"You need to go see Hal-G and ask him something...."

"Ask him what?"

"Ask him, whether or not the Dimension card you possess can take you to the Doom Dimension..."

"Where exactly are we?"

"I don't know," Tigorra replied. "There seems to be no end to the Doom Dimension."

"Is there any chance at all that we can get out of here?" Sarah asked. "I'm sure my mother is worried sick. I hope she didn't call the police to look for me. The first people they'll talk to is Dan, Bella and Shun."

"I don't know what your mother is planning on doing, but if we can't find a way out of here, then you'll never see her again."

"I didn't even think of that when you were defeated by Hydranoid," Sarah sighed. "All I thought about was you. I didn't want to lose you...."

"And I thank you for that," Tigorra smiled. "We're in this together."

Sarah's stomach growled. "Damn. It's been at least a week since I've eaten anything. I'm starving."

Tigorra purred. "Well unless you like eating dirt and rocks, there's nothing to eat here." Sarah sighed and her stomach growled again.

"Let's keep going," Sarah replied. "We have to find a way out of here."

"You're right," Tigorra said and continued walking.

"Dan, would you wait up already!?"

Dan stopped and Bella and Shun were on either side of him. "Dan, are you alright?" Bella asked.

"Do I look alright!?" Dan growled.

"Stop snapping at everybody!" Bella growled back. "We miss Sarah just as much as you do!"

Dan looked at her, then at the ground with a sigh and kept walking. Bella and Shun walked beside him.

"Look, Dan," Shun said. "I think there is a way that we can help Sarah get out of the Doom Dimension."

Dan stopped suddenly and faced Shun. "Let's hear it!"

"It's risky, but I believe that if we battle Masquerade and lose, then we can go to the Doom Dimension and find her. Then we can figure out a way to leave."

"That sounds like an excellent plan," came a voice and they looked down at Morucho, Julie and Runo were with him. "But are you sure that Tigorra and Sarah haven't already thought about finding a way out of the Doom Dimension. I think that they should be fine-"

"Yeah, but we need to know if they're okay!" Dan argued. "I'm with Shun's idea."

"Me too," Runo said. "Sarah doesn't have to do this alone."

"I agree," Julie smiled. "Wherever you go, Dan, I'm going with you."

"Uh... thanks, I think......" Dan mumbled.

"What do you think, Bella?" Shun asked.

"Well, it seems simple enough," Bella sighed. "But what if there isn't a way out of the Doom Dimension? Then we're all stuck there. And I don't suppose they have restaurants in the Doom Dimension..."

Everybody waited for Bella to make her decision. "Well, I'm in anyway," Morucho smiled.

"Bella?" Shun said.

Bella gave a long sigh. "Alright. I'm in."

"Great!" Dan smiled for the first time in a week. "Then let's go find Masquerade right now!"

"We can't just ditch school, you idiot!" Runo growled. "Wait until tomorrow, we'll be more prepared then. And what are we going to tell our parents? If we say nothing and end up stuck in the Doom Dimension forever then don't you think they'll be worried?"

Dan sighed. "I bet Sarah's parents are really worried....... Maybe we should talk to them and say that Sarah is hanging with us for a little while..."

"Sounds good," Bella replied. "That way her parents won't worry that much. They'll probably ask why she didn't tell them, but it's worth a shot."

"Hey guys."

They turned and saw three skaterboys that they knew at CJ, MJ and JD. "Hey," Shun said.

"Have you guys seen Sarah at all?" MJ asked. "We haven't seen her in a week. She's usually at the skate park after school and she hasn't come."

"Skate park?" Bella echoed. "Since when does she skate?"

"Me and the boys tried teaching her last week," CJ smiled. "She fell over a lot."

"So, do you know where she is?" MJ asked again.

Dan sighed. "Guys, truth is, she's not in our world right now."

"Then where is she?" JD asked.

"She was battling Masquerade..." Dan cringed at the memory of seeing Sarah jumped through the black hole. "He sent her Tigorra to the Doom Dimension and Sarah went in after her Bakugan."

"So she's been in the Doom Dimension this whole time!?" CJ exclaimed.

"That would explain why she hasn't been here..." MJ sighed. "There's no escape from the Doom Dimension...."

"Well, we're going to try and get her out of there," Shun said.

"How!?" JD growled. "If you go there, you'll be stranded as well!"

"There may be a way we can get Sarah and Tigorra out of there," Drago said, popping up on Dan's shoulder. "We just have to work it out."

"Drago is right," Bella sighed. "Somehow I feel responsible for Tigorra getting sent to the Doom Dimension."

"Why do you think that?" Julie asked.

"Because we couldn't work together to defeat Masquerade..." Bella looked at the ground. "All we did was argue with one another."

"That doesn't mean it was your fault," Runo said. "Masquerade just overpowered her with his Hydranoid."

"Yeah, she used every card she had to stop Masquerade from beating her," Morucho sighed. "It wasn't your fault necessarily."

"Yeah, but...."

"Don't worry about it," Shun told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If our plan works out the way we want it to, Sarah will be back in this world, no problem."

Dan was thinking, something was wrong, he could feel it. He kept thinking of one certain thing that Masquerade was able to do, he wasn't sure if he was just being stupid or not.

"Well, if you're going, I want you to take this, Dan," MJ said and held his hand out, it had a little red ball resting on his palm.

"What!?" Dan exclaimed. "But that's a-"

"A Bakugan, I know," MJ smiled. "I used to Brawl. But not anymore. Please, take this. It will be of great help to you."

"Uh.. thanks, MJ," Dan said and took the Pyrus attributed Bakugan. "What's its name?"  
"It's name is Kaianoid," MJ replied. "He used to be one of the strongest Bakugan I had."

"Cool," Dan murmured.

"Let's get back to class," Shun suggested. "And Dan, don't snap at Miss Purdy again."

"Okay," Dan smiled. "Just so long as tomorrow will hurry up I don't care what happens today."

Bella nearly laughed. _He really wants to see her_, she thought.

"We'll see you guys later," Morucho said and walked back to class with Julie and Runo.

"I wonder what they were even doing out of class," Shun murmured.

"After school I'll send Masquerade a message saying we want to battle him," Dan said.

Bella smiled. "As much as I hate losing, I'm sure that this'll be fun."

"Yeah," Shun agreed. "Then after we get ourselves out of the Doom Dimension, we can battle him again and beat him."

"See ya's later," MJ said and led his friends away.

"Bye," Bella waved. _We're not all that sad anymore_, she thought. _Now that we've figured out how to help Sarah, everything's perfect_!

They walked into class and Bella went right to the teacher's desk. "HI!"

The teacher looked at them, Bella was hyper, Shun was standing proudly, a smile on his face, and Dan had determination in his eyes, there was a new air of strength surrounding the three of them.

Dan and Shun went and sat down in their seats, Bella jumped up onto the teacher's desk.

"Bella, what are you doing!?" Miss Purdy growled.

"I am about to do my macho dance," Bella smiled. "It's famous all around the school."

Miss Purdy watched as Bella crossed her arms and started kicking her legs in front of her, turning as she did so, kicking everything off the desk and onto the floor. "Bella, stop this at once!"

"Sorry, not until I think I'm finished," Bella smiled.

Dan and Shun smirked and left their seats, they each grabbed a piece of chalk and went to the blackboards that were on either side of the whiteboard and they started drawing.

When Bella was finished with her macho dance, she jumped down and grabbed a marker, drawing on the whiteboard, over all the maths work that Miss Purdy had written on it.

"Stop this now!" Miss Purdy growled. "Or I'll call Principle Scotts!"

They didn't listen to her and she went straight to the school phone. She looked down to dial the number. "Hello, Principle Scotts-" she looked up and saw nothing but two pieces of chalk and a marker on the floor. She turned to their desks but they were nowhere in the room. "Never mind," she sighed.

Bella laughed as they ran. "Now, this I have missed!"

"Yeah, me too," Shun breathed. "A whole week without even smiling has been pretty boring, even though we weren't in the mood to be happy."

Dan smiled. _Just so long as there's a chance we get to see Sarah again, I don't care_, he thought.

After school came and Dan, Bella and Shun were walking together, they stopped at the park.

"So, when are you going to send the message to Masquerade?" Bella asked.

"Now," Dan replied and pressed a button on his Bakupod. "Okay, Masquerade, Dan here. Meet me and the other Brawlers at the park tomorrow at one o'clock for a battle. Unless you're too chicken to face us after sending Sarah to the Doom Dimension! You're gonna pay for what you did. Reply if you're prepared to face us." He pressed another button and he sat down on a bench, the others sat down too.

"What if Masquerade doesn't show up tomorrow" Skyress asked. "What then?"

"Then we look for him, what else?" Wolfress replied simply.

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "No matter what, we're going to the Doom Dimension and that's final. We have to get Sarah out of there, pronto!"

In moments, Dan's Bakupod beeped and he looked at it. "I've got a message."

"Is it from Masquerade?" Shun asked.

Dan pressed a button that opened the message. "Yep."

"I accept your challenge, Dan," Masquerade said. "I'll be there. But you better be ready to lose. Oh and by the way, it was Sarah's own fault that she was sent to the Doom Dimension. Not mine." And the message ended.

"Well, we'll be ready to lose alright," Dan murmured.

"Daniel, we'll have to be ready for whatever happens," Drago said. "It will be dangerous in there."

"Well we'll be fine so long as we work as a team," Dan replied. He looked at the Bakugan that MJ had given him. "Kaianoid...." he mumbled. "I wonder if he talks...."

"He should," Skyress said. "I heard he was a dangerous creature in Pyrus space."

"He was," Drago sighed. "He roamed the skies day and night, only coming down to attack a Bakugan or to eat. I came into battle with him...."

"Who won?" Bella asked.

"He did," Drago replied. Drago turned to the red ball in Dan's hand. "Hey, Kaianoid! Why don't you come out of your ball and talk to us!"

Nothing happened, Kaianoid didn't say anything or even move.

"Are you sure MJ wasn't lying?" Wolfress growled. "I knew Kaianoid as well, but he was never reluctant to do something. If someone told him to say something he'd tell them to scram."

"He must be a coward now," Drago laughed. "Trapped in the form of a ball, unable to attack anyone or anything. He must have just been a bully with no brains. Once beaten, afraid of everything."

Still, Kaianoid didn't move.

Dan shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We don't need him anyway."

"Hello you three."

The three friends turned their heads and froze when they saw a woman standing there, she looked a little like Sarah. "Hi," Bella murmured. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sarah's mother," the woman said. "My name is Elizabeth. Sarah hasn't been at home in a week and I'm really worried about her. I recognize you all from seeing Sarah talk to you on the internet when I was vacuuming her room. I was wondering....." she looked at the ground. "Have you seen her at all?"

Dan, Shun and Bella exchanged glances, Sarah's mother was close to tears, worried about Sarah. "Yeah, we have," Dan lied. "She's staying at Bella's place for a little while. I think she was nervous that you were angry with her after her first day at our school and so she wanted to stay clear for a little bit. She's okay. No need to worry."

Elizabeth sighed. "Thank you, I just needed to know where she was. I'd thought that she would have at least called.."

"Oh yeah," Bella added onto the lie. "We've been having troubles with our phone connections, she tried calling you at one stage but the phone didn't work. Sorry."

"That's okay," Sarah's mother looked brighter. "Thank you so much. Do you know when Sarah will decide to come home?"

The three friends exchanged another glance, their eyes showing nervousness. "Umm.... we don't know to be honest," Shun nearly whispered.

"Oh..... why do you look so sad?"

They were worried now. "Uh.. no reason," Dan couldn't suppress how scared he sounded.

Elizabeth had tears in her eyes. "She hasn't been with you at all.... has she? She's not at your house....."

They sighed. "No, we're so sorry," Bella said. "We haven't seen her at all and we're just as worried. We don't know where she is, but she hasn't been at school and nobody has seen her all week."

Sarah's mother started crying. "I hope she's okay."

"We do too," Shun mumbled so quietly that Dan and Bella barely heard him.

"I don't remember what I would have said or done to make her leave home...." she looked up. "Unless it has something to do with Bakugan?"

"What do you mean?" Shun asked.

"I've seen her little collection of Bakugan," Elizabeth replied. "Sarah says that it's just a game that everybody plays. But I've seen her talking to her white Bakugan."

Dan sighed. "Bella, Shun, you guys should go. I'll explain everything."

Bella and Shun didn't object, they got up and they left without another word.

"So, what is your name?" Elizabeth asked.

"My name is Daniel, but everybody just calls me Dan," Dan replied.

"Okay. So, Dan. When was the last time you saw Sarah?"

"Last week, after she challenged someone to a game of Bakugan. I didn't see her after that," Dan knew he was telling at least half the truth. "She didn't come to next class and she's been missing ever since."

"Who did she challenge?"

Dan sighed. "His name is Masquerade, he's the best Bakugan player around."

"Did he beat her?"

"Yeah."

"But surely if it was just a game it wouldn't matter...." Elizabeth said, Dan looked at the ground. "Winning or losing isn't important. Just so long as you have fun playing the game...."

Dan couldn't help being struck by how distressed Sarah's mother was. He remembered how Masquerade and Sarah had played every Ability card they had to try and defeat each other, in the end, Masquerade's Bakugan had more power and Sarah's Bakugan lost. Sarah had jumped into the black hole leading to the Doom Dimension, not thinking, she went in to stay with Tigorra. Tears formed in his eyes and he clenched his fists, trying to suppress them. He was still unsure about Shun's plan, if it failed, Sarah's mother would never see her daughter again. Nobody would see any of the Brawlers again, and then Naga would take over the world with them gone.

"Daniel?" Elizabeth asked, fierce distress in her voice. "Bakugan is just a game, right? Just like a marble game? Nothing more?"

Dan could feel the muscles in his arms tightening as he tried harder and harder to hold back his tears. "It's much more than just a game," he said, his voice shaking and failing at the last word.

Elizabeth looked at him, confused. "Then what is it?"

"I can't tell you," he murmured. "But I can promise you, I will find Sarah, and I will try to bring her back. No matter what it takes."

"Thank you. Please bring her home. I miss her very much."

"Me too," Dan said, and he couldn't take it anymore, he got up and he ran off.

Masquerade walked down the stairs into the basement of the fancy mansion. He looked at the computer and everything else in the small, stuffy room. "Hal-G," he murmured. "Or should I say, Professor Micheal."

A face appeared in the stone wall. "I haven't been called that in quite a long time," the face said. It was Hal-G. "What is it that you want?"

"I recently made a small mistake and I need to know something," Masquerade held up the Dimension card. "This Dimension card that you gave me has been of great use to me, I am able to transport myself to anywhere I desire. Tell me, would it work in the Doom Dimension?"

"Yes," Hal-G replied. "I designed it to work in any dimension. Why do you ask?"

Masquerade smiled. "No reason. I was just wondering."

"Okay, if you say so," the face disappeared.

_Now, after tomorrow when I defeat the brawlers, they'll be out of the way. I know their plan, and it will backfire on them_, he thought and disappeared into thin air.

"Where is that creep!?

"Settle down, Bella!" Runo sighed. "He'll be here soon."

"But I wanna Brawl him _now_!!!!!!!!!" Bella complained. She was lying on the grass with her hands behind her head and her feet in the air, moving them back and forth, she watched them.

"He will come," Skyress said. "We just have to be patient."

"I'm here. You all better be ready."

Bella jumped up, her fists clenched. "Before we battle, Masquerade, I wanna punch you in the face!"

"Not gonna happen, Bella," Shun growled at her, holding her arms so she couldn't run at Masquerade, even though she tried.

"Let's just get this over and done with," Masquerade sighed. "I have somewhere I need to be and someone to pick up."

"What are you talking about?" Julie asked.

"Why do you need to know?" Masquerade said simply.

"I think he's got a girlfriend," Runo joked quietly, it was enough to make Bella fall to the ground and crack up laughing.

Dan was unsure of what Masquerade meant, but somehow, he felt that something wasn't right. Like they were going to make a mistake, but he couldn't figure it out.

Bella was laughing and holding her stomach, but before Shun could help her, she jumped up and held a card. "Let's hurry up and do this."

Everyone held a card. "Field, open!" they all said.

Time around them stopped, and in an instant, it started up again and Masquerade stood there alone, smiling. "Fools," he murmured to himself. "Sending themselves to the Doom Dimension." He walked off but disappeared.

Sarah was thrown back and she glimpsed Tigorra getting thrown into a large rock. "Tigorra, are you okay!?"

"I'm fine," Tigorra replied and got back up. "I need some help."

"Alright," Sarah struggled to her feet, holding up a card. "Take them down, Tigorra. Ability, activate! Thunder Claws!"

Lightning came down from the sky and struck Tigorra's claws. Tigorra jumped at their enemies, aiming for one of them, but she was hit from the side and thrown back, away from Sarah.

"Tigorra!" Sarah tried to run over to her Bakugan but she tripped on a rock. She was exhausted, scared, nervous and still hungry. Her clothes were torn and her hair was a mess. Their battle with the six Darkus Bakugan was coming to an end, their enemies were winning.

She saw a Mantris standing over Tigorra, ready to attack her. But she saw no more as something stood in between her and her Bakugan. She sat up and looked at the Darkus Bakugan, Fear Ripper. "You don't look like much of a meal," he sounded as if he was complaining. "But you'll do anyway."

"SARAH!" Tigorra yelled.

Sarah screamed as claws came crashing down towards her. She closed her eyes, terrified.


	6. Chapter 6

"Boosted Dragon!"

She heard a screech from Fear Ripper and Sarah opened her eyes, fire had struck him and he was thrown into Mantris, both of them were forced away from Tigorra.

Before Sarah could even look around, someone was at her side, one hand on her shoulder. "Sarah, are you alright?"

She looked at him. "Dan!? What are you doing here!?" she cried.

"We came to help you," he murmured and she watched as a huge red dragon went after Fear Ripper, then came a giant green bird flying in the air, a red wolf, another white tiger, a lizard looking blue creature and a huge rock looking thing.

"Let's get em!" Bella shouted and the new arrivals went after the Darkus Bakugan.

"You know that there's no way out of here," Sarah murmured. "Me and Tigorra have searched for days and haven't found anyway out."

Dan pulled her into a hug. "We thought so. But we came anyway to help you out. We're a team, we're the Bakugan Battle Brawlers. We stick together...... And I missed you."

Sarah hugged Dan in return. "Thanks for coming," she smiled.

In moments, the Darkus Bakugan retreated. Dan broke the hug and they looked up at their friends, Shun and Skyress, Runo and Tigrerra, Morucho with Prayus, Julie with Gorem, Bella and Wolfress and Drago.

"Sarah!" Bella exclaimed and jumped down from Wolfress's head, running over to her friend and hugged her. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Bella, we have other problems to worry about right now," Julie said. "Tigorra's hurt."

Bella let go of Sarah and turned to see Tigorra, laying on the ground, exhausted.

Sarah stood up, but she was so tired that she had no balance. Dan stood up and caught her as she fell, holding her in his arms. "I'll take you to her."

"Thanks," Sarah murmured.

Skyress landed beside Tigorra, the other Bakugan crowded around. Dan put Sarah down in front of Tigorra's nose and Sarah stood up, Dan helped support her. "Tigorra, are you alright?" Sarah asked.

"I will be after some rest," Tigorra sighed. "I'm glad you all have come. Thank you for saving Sarah."

"It was nothing," Drago said.

"But why are you here?" Tigorra asked. "You know we will never get out of here."

"We had to risk it," Gorem said. "We wanted to help you."

"We all agreed to come here," Tigrerra agreed.

"We wanted to help you," Prayus smiled. "Looks like we came at the right time. Otherwise Sarah would be sheesh-ka-bob."

"Thank you," Tigorra breathed.

Sarah's stomach growled. "Not again," she sighed.

"Should have known," Bella grumbled, crossing her arms. "I was right, they _don't_ have restaurants in the Doom Dimension!"

"If there was I wouldn't be so hungry," Sarah smiled.

"So you haven't eaten in a whole week?!" Julie exclaimed. Sarah simply shook her head. "No wonder you look so tired. I'd be the same."

"Well now we just have to try and find a way out," Shun said.

"We've tried," Sarah murmured. "We've been searching all week."

"Maybe we just need to search some more," Prayus smiled. "Let's go guys."

"Uh.. Prayus?" Dan said in a sarcastic tone.

"What is it, Danny-boy?" Prayus asked.

"Do you honestly think that Sarah can manage to keep going, let alone _Tigorra_!?"

"Oh yeah, sorry guys," Prayus ducked his head. "I forgot."

An hour passed and Tigorra was able to stand up, Sarah had fallen asleep on Dan's shoulder and everybody was waiting for Tigorra to give the word that she was ready to keep going.

Tigorra stretched and walked in a few circles before she announced. "Okay everybody, I'm good to go."

Dan sighed and shrugged his shoulder gently. "Sarah, you have to wake up now." Sarah didn't wake up, she still looked really tired.

"You don't have to wake her," Tigorra said. "I can still carry her."

"Okay," Dan said and held Sarah's shoulders, supporting her while he picked her up.

"Daniel, you should go with Tigorra and Sarah," Drago said. "We don't want Sarah falling off and waking up with a bad headache."

Dan nodded. "Alright."

Tigorra put her head down and Dan jumped up, putting Sarah against the gold armor and he sat beside her.

"Skyress, fly into the air and tell us if you see any Bakugan before we move on," Drago said.

Skyress nodded and spread her wings. She flew into the air with Shun standing on her head, his arms crossed and his eyes scanning the area. She looked around. "No. It's all clear!"

"Alright," Prayus said. "Follow me everybody!"

Everyone blinked at him and he sighed. "Or not."

Drago flew into the sky, and for a while, Skyress and Drago led the way.

Dan watched Sarah as she slept, he had missed her so much. He was happy that she was with him again, strangely. Her calm expression changed and she looked as if she was in pain, her eyes flickered but remained closed and her jaw tightened as her teeth clenched. Dan got worried.

"Tigorra, look out!" Drago yelled.

Suddenly, a huge purple ball slammed into the ground in front of Tigorra, throwing her backwards, Sarah was thrown one way, and Dan was thrown the other way.

Sarah slammed against a rock and fell to the ground. Her hand reached her head. "That hurt," she mumbled and blinked open her eyes. She looked at Dan, he was struggling to his feet, Tigorra was just recovering from the blow.

She struggled to her feet and she leaned against the huge rock to support herself.

"Are you guys alright!?" Morucho exclaimed.

"I'm fine," Dan said.

"Me too," Tigorra sighed.

"Yeah, same here," Sarah added but her legs wouldn't hold her and gave way.

"Sarah!" Bella yelled but Sarah didn't hit the ground, she was sitting on the ground with someone crouched beside her.

"Are you alright?" the person asked.

"Yeah," Sarah replied, breathing, but then she took in who it was. She jumped to her feet and stepped back, her back against the rock. "What the hell are you doing here!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

The guy stood up. "I thought you wanted to get out of the Doom Dimension," he replied.

Sarah found her strength and she ran over to Tigorra, getting away from the guy.

Bella growled. "_**Now**_ can I punch him in the face!?!?! How did _he_ get here!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Dan's eyes widened. _That's what I missed_! He thought. _He is able to transport himself anywhere!!! That means he can grab Sarah and get out of here, leaving us stranded in the Doom Dimension!!!!!!!!!!!_

"I told you earlier," the guy smiled. "I had a place to be and a person to pick up." He walked towards Sarah and Tigorra.

"Stay away from her!" Dan growled and ran over to Sarah, but the guy was already there. A strange barrier pushed Dan back. Sarah was scared.

"Why are you here, Masquerade?" Shun asked as Skyress and Drago landed on the ground.

"To get Sarah," he replied simply. He looked at Sarah who was on the ground and hugging Tigorra's massive paw. Tigorra moved her head towards Sarah and nudged her gently with her nose. "Would you rather stay here, Sarah, or would you like to return to our world?"

"You're just gonna take me anyway!" Sarah growled, though she was just acting tough to try and cover up her fear. "And you're gonna leave the others here!"

"That's the plan," Masquerade smiled. "Naga wishes to see you."

Sarah stood up and threw a punch at Masquerade. He grabbed her fist so quickly that she didn't even care. He looked at the tears rolling down her face.

"Settle down," he said softly, Sarah was unsure if Masquerade was feeling alright today. He never sounded so kind. "There's no use trying to get away. You don't have the strength. It's best you just come with me."

Sarah threw her other fist forward, he grabbed that one as well but she tore it out of his grip. She tried taking the other one but he wouldn't allow it.

"Get away from her!" Julie yelled and Gorem went for Masquerade, but the barrier threw him back.

Dan panicked. Masquerade had tricked them! He looked up and he quickly moved out of the way to avoid being crushed by Gorem. He fell on his face and when he looked up, he saw the small red ball that MJ gave him, it was rolling towards Sarah.

Sarah growled and tried to punch him again, he merely blocked it. She grabbed Masquerade's arm that held her fist and he didn't seem bothered. She ripped her fist out of his grip and tried to move away from him, but he grabbed her arm. She fell into a crouch, breathing hard. She saw the ball and grabbed it, holding it in her hand. She looked at it, it was a Bakugan ball.

"Stop struggling," Masquerade sighed, still holding her arm. "We're leaving now."

"No!" Sarah exclaimed but he already held up his Dimension card.

"Sarah!" Dan yelled and got up to run forward, once again thrown back by the barrier.

"DAN!" she screamed.

Light came from the card and Sarah knew she had no choice. She turned and she grabbed a bit of Tigorra's fur, she didn't want to leave.

Light engulfed them and Sarah saw herself in another place, a small room with a couch, a coffee table and a t.v. Everything looked expensive. She looked in her hand, a white and a red ball was in her palm, she put them in her pocket.

She realized that she was still crouched down, Masquerade was still holding her arm in the air. He put the card away and he pulled her to her feet, then he threw her back and she landed on the couch. "Stay there a minute," he said and walked to the door. "Don't bother trying to get away."

Sarah watched as Masquerade left the room and she heard a click as he locked the door. _Like that's gonna keep me in here_! She thought.

After a while, Sarah stood up and she walked to the door, trying to pull it open. She growled and she kicked it, it swung open. "Cool," she murmured and walked out, looking up and down the hall. "Which way did he go?"

She decided to go left and she ran up the hallway, thinking of the shocked faces of her friends. Masquerade must have known their plan and he made up his own, to get them out of the way.

She turned a corner but she ran into someone and fell back. "Ow," she muttered and looked up. She saw a guy with long blond hair, brown baggy pants, a white shirt and an orange jacket with long white sleeves. As well as black, fingerless gloves, an orange Bakupod, red converse shoes and a cap with white at the front with an orange thunderbolt on it, orange at the back and black at the brim.

"Hey, you must be the girl Masquerade brought here just before," he said, he sounded kind. He put out a hand and helped her up. "My name's Billy. What are you doing wandering around here? Masquerade told me he locked you in a room."

"The door just.... magically opened," Sarah said and backed away from him. Although he looked friendly enough with his crystal blue eyes, she didn't trust anybody that worked for Masquerade. "Look, I really wanna get out of here," she sighed. "Can you help me?" She knew it was stupid to ask.

"No-can-do miss," he replied, still sounding kind. "Masquerade would kill me."

Sarah looked at the ground. "I don't know why he wants me to be here," she murmured, not really talking to anybody.

"Naga wants you to help us," Billy replied.

"I know that! But I lost track at how many times I said no to Masquerade!"

"Well I heard that you're one of the best Brawlers on the ranking list. It's not so bad working for Masquerade, you get to be the best of the best."

"Whoop-di-doo for you!" Sarah growled. "Go play with your Bakugan toys. I'm gonna find a way out of here."

She turned to leave but Billy grabbed her arm. "Sorry miss, but I can't let you do that."

Sarah growled and tried taking her arm back, but he had a good grip. "Let me go!"

"I'll have to take you to Masquerade miss."

"NO!" Sarah cried in a kid's voice and she tried pulling her arm free again. "He's a creep, I hate him and I don't wanna talk to him!"

Billy sighed. "Alright, I guess we'll just have to do it the hard way. Forgive me for this, miss." He pulled her towards him and he picked her up, putting her over his shoulder. He turned and walked down the hallways.

"Are you crazy!" she yelled at him. "If you drop me, I'm gonna kill you!"

"I won't drop you, don't worry," he replied. "I'm only doing my job."

"Why do you work for Masquerade anyway?" she asked in a grumpy voice, putting her elbow on his back and resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"I'm not obliged to tell you that," he said.

Sarah sighed. "It's so hard to make conversation with you people. I ask a question and it doesn't get answered."

"Hey, Billy. Who's the kid?"

Sarah would have looked to see who it was, but she couldn't. "Who are you calling a kid you creep!?" she growled instead.

"I'm calling _you_ a kid!" Sarah noticed that Billy stopped and someone walked behind him, a really short person with a cap and baggy clothes.

"Ha! You cant call me a kid you little shrimp!" she laughed. "You're the kid! Or do you get called the baby around here?"

He growled. "Who the heck are you anyway!?"

"I was gonna ask the same question."

"Don't get smart with me, kid!"

"Shut your trap, _baby_!" Sarah bit back.

"Cut it out, the both of you," Billy sighed, Sarah was surprised that his voice could remain so calm and kind. "Kambo, stop calling her a kid. You're younger than her."

"She started it," Kambo said.

"Actually.. you did," Sarah poked her tongue out at him in a rude manner.

"Wait a second," he murmured. "Aren't you that girl that Dan likes?"

"What!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Sarah yelled. Billy cringed and Kambo looked nervous. "What the hell are you talking about!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Well it's kinda obvious that he likes you," Kambo said cautiously.

"You're kidding......." Sarah mumbled.

"Nope," Kambo smiled. "You really didn't know that?"

"Kambo!" Billy growled, making Sarah scared. "Stop bothering our guest and go find something important to do!"

Kambo nodded. "Yes, Billy." He left.

"Can you please put me down?" Sarah asked Billy.

"Only if you promise not to try and run off."

"Well, it's not like I'm going to get anywhere if I tried. Please put me down."

Billy nodded. "Okay." He gently picked her up over his shoulder and put her on her feet.

_Sucker_, she thought. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, miss," Billy smiled. "Now come on, Masquerade will want to see you."

Sarah walked beside Billy through a large room. When she thought he was unprepared, she turned to another direction and ran towards a door. "Haha!" she laughed over her shoulder. "I'm getting out of here if it's the last thing I ever do!"

Billy sighed and was about to go after her when she skidded to a stop in front of somebody, crashing against their chest. She fell to the ground.

Sarah put a hand over her nose. "OW!" She looked up to see a guy wearing fancy clothes. He had short grayish hair, but he was at least 19, she was sure. "You people keep popping up _**everywhere**_!" she complained in a yell.

Billy walked over and crouched down beside her. "You were saying?"

Sarah growled. "If _he_" -- she rudely nodded to the new person -- "hadn't have gotten in my way I'd be out of here!"

"Oh really?" Billy said. "Well the only place you're going is to see Masquerade." He picked her up in his arms.

"Who's this?" the new guy asked.

"Uh..well I don't exactly know her name," Billy replied. "But she's the girl Masquerade brought today."

"Oh right," the guy smiled. "Hello. My name's Clouse." He put out a hand.

Sarah looked at the hand and looked away, crossing her arms. "Sarah," she replied simply.

Clouse took his hand back. "Not very friendly, are you?" he smiled.

"You sound as if you're talking to a tiger that just bit your hand off!" Sarah growled.

"Well it certainly seems like it," Clouse replied.

"Come on," Billy sighed. "Sorry Clouse, but I have to take her to Masquerade."

Clouse nodded and Billy turned and walked off, carrying Sarah.

"Why do you have to carry me!?" Sarah growled.

"Because you'll run off if I don't," Billy answered simply.

Billy carried her in his arms until they reached a large room with a desk in the middle, someone was sitting there, looking up at a huge screen at the front of the room. Billy turned and walked out of the room, waiting at the door.

"Why don't you just go in?" Sarah asked him.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'manners'?" Billy said to her in a laughing matter. "Masquerade is talking to someone and I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it if I just walked right on in."

"So, who cares?" Sarah grumbled. Billy sighed.

"Billy. You can enter now," came Masquerade's voice and Billy walked back into the room.

"Sorry for the intrusion before, Masquerade," Billy said. "I didn't know you were talking to someone."

"Then try knocking," Masquerade said, although he didn't seem bothered.

"I would if I could," Billy admitted and Masquerade turned around in his chair. Sarah childishly reached out a hand for the door and knocked on it.

"Why are you carrying her? Don't tell me she's that exhausted that she can't walk by herself?" Masquerade laughed.

"Actually, she tried running off," Billy looked at Sarah, she smiled innocently.

Masquerade sighed. "Sarah, your friends are stuck in the Doom Dimension now, you know that. So why bother trying to get out of here?"

"It's your fault they're in the Doom Dimension!" Sarah growled, putting a hand on Billy's chest and pushing out of his hold to stand on her own. She stormed over to Masquerade and looked up at him. "You sent me there and you tricked them into going there as well! All so you could get them out of the way!"

"It's your own fault you went to the Doom Dimension to begin with."

"No. It's yours."

"Did I push you into that black hole?"

"No."

"Then that makes it your fault."

Sarah growled and crossed her arms.

"Billy, you can leave now," Masquerade said. Billy nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

"You know I don't want to be here," Sarah growled.

"Well you're here now. Get over it."

"I won't work for you _**or**_ Naga!" Sarah raised her voice.

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't!"

Sarah heard a beep and Masquerade turned around, pressing a button on the keyboard on the desk. Something came up on the screen and Sarah yelped, hiding behind Masquerade. He looked over his shoulder at her, confused.

"Masquerade, do you have the girl?" asked a really creepy, evil voice, it sounded like he was choking.

"Yes, she's here now," Masquerade replied.

Sarah poked her head around Masquerade and looked at the screen, there was a huge blacky looking dragon, surrounded by a huge purple ball. "Wow, he's even uglier than I imagined him to be," she murmured to herself, she noticed Masquerade look at her over his shoulder again.

"Hello, little girl," she heard the dragon say and she hid behind Masquerade again. "Don't be shy. It's good to finally meet you. You don't know how long I have waited for you to join us."

Sarah grumbled as Masquerade stepped to the side. She looked up at the dragon. "Oh yeah? Well you might just be waiting for a long time, because I will _**never**_ join you!"

"I have heard that many times," he didn't sound concerned. "You will join us, one way or the other."

"No, I refuse to help you destroy the human world and the Bakugan world!" Sarah realized that this must be Naga, the evil Bakugan that had been absorbed into the Silent core.

"Why?"

"Because I'm one of the Brawlers. I fight to save our worlds, not to destroy them," Sarah glared up at the screen, the dragon didn't look pleased.

"Your friends are in the Doom Dimension now," Naga growled. "They will never come back."

Sarah growled as she heard the harsh truth. She saw the faces of each of her friends; Bella, Shun, Runo, Morucho, Julie, Alice and Dan.

The image of Dan stayed for longer in her head and she dropped her head, tears forming. She tried so hard to force them back but it was no use. _They went to the Doom Dimension to try and save me, knowing that there may not be a chance that they could get out of there. And now I'm back in the human world where as they're stuck in the Doom Dimension forever! Why did they have to come after me!? Why couldn't they just stay in this world and wait for me to come back_!? She thought.

"_You know that there's no way out of here_," Sarah heard her voice in her head. "_Me and Tigorra have searched for days and haven't found anyway out_."

Dan pulled her into a hug. "_We thought so. But we came anyway to help you out. We're a team, we're the Bakugan Battle Brawlers. We stick together...... And I missed you_."

Sarah hugged Dan in return. "_Thanks for coming_," she smiled.

Sarah fell to her knees, her hands on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Masquerade crouched down beside her, one hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Sarah," she was once again surprised by how kind he sounded.

"I will leave the two of you to talk," Naga said and the screen went black.

Sarah didn't even notice, she just kept crying.

"Look, Sarah, I'm sorry," Masquerade murmured. "If I could have it any other way I would. I'm only doing what Naga tells me to do."

"And did Naga tell you to trap the others in the Doom Dimension!?" Sarah growled.

"Yes."

Her heart skipped a beat and her mind trailed back to the first time she heard Masquerade sound so kind and caring. "_Settle down. There's no use trying to get away. You don't have the strength. It's best you just come with me_."

_Could it be that he didn't want to do it_? She thought. _That he didn't want to leave them stranded there, knowing that I would be upset over it_?

Sarah's eyes suddenly became heavy and she just didn't care that she leaned her head on Masquerade's shoulder. "I miss them," she whispered.

Masquerade sighed and hugged her, she didn't care at that point, she just didn't care. "Sarah, if you don't want to work for Naga, fine, I won't stop you from making that choice, he will get mad though. But you have to stay here in this mansion, okay?"

Sarah nodded. "Okay."

Masquerade picked her up in his arms. "You need some rest," he murmured. "You look exhausted."

"I am," was all Sarah replied with.

Masquerade walked out of the room and down a few hallways, he was quite surprised when he realized that Sarah had fallen asleep in his arms, her head leaning against his chest. _Poor kid_, he thought. _If I could take back all the pain I inflicted on her, I would. It's all because of Naga that I did it. I didn't want to do it. Now she's that upset, she forgot how much she was mad at me. I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm really sorry_.

He opened a door as best he could and walked into the room. He put Sarah down on the bed and pulled the sheets over her so she wouldn't get cold. He turned and he walked for the door.

"Masquerade?"

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry..." Sarah murmured.

He looked at her for a long moment, her eyes were still closed and she curled up. "Me too, Sarah," he replied and shut the door behind him, leaving her to sleep.

"Why that stupid, no good, _**RAT**_!"

"Calm down, Bella, there's nothing we can do," Shun sighed.

"He tricked us into coming here so that he could take Sarah!" Bella growled.

"Well it wasn't as if we were standing in his way," Julie pointed out. "We just came here to try and get her out."

"Yeah, but he was planning on doing that too," Tigrerra growled. "He could do it easy."

"He _did_ do it!" Dan growled. "Whether we were in his way or not, he would still have come to get her. But this makes it just a little more fun for him!"

"Don't get snappy at us, Dan," Runo said. "It's not our fault. We didn't know this would happen!"

"It's not like you had to even come along!" Dan growled snapped.

"Daniel, this is no time to be arguing with your friends!" Drago said calmly. "We have to try and get out of here."

"And how do you suppose we do that!?"

"I don't know."

"Well if Sarah couldn't find a way out in a week, we'll never get out of here!"

"Great optimism," Wolfress muttered.

"No kidding," Prayus said. "We just have to try. We'll find a way out."

"I hope so...." Dan sighed.

Sarah tossed and turned in her sleep, she couldn't escape the cries for help from her friends. "_Sarah_!" she heard Bella yell. "_We need your help_!"

"_Sarah_!" came Dan's voice. "_Please, help us get out of here_!"

"_Sarah_!"

"_Sarah_!"

"_Sarah_!"

She shot right up, letting out a small scream. She was breathing hard and she looked around the room, at the door she saw Masquerade leaning against it, his arms crossed.

"You alright?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," she murmured, trying not to sound as scared as she was.

"I can tell you were dreaming about your friends," he said and walked over to her bed, he sat down beside her. "And I'm sorry that they're in the Doom Dimension. I wouldn't have even sent them there if I could have avoided it. I was coming to get you anyway."

"It's okay," Sarah replied. "It's Naga that's making you do everything."

"But still...."

Sarah sighed. "Don't worry about it. I just hope they're alright."

In the silence, Sarah's stomach growled.

"You hungry?" Masquerade asked.

"Well I haven't eaten in a week," Sarah smiled.

Masquerade smiled back. "Come on, I'll show you to the kitchen and you can have some breakfast."

"It's morning?" Sarah asked as her and Masquerade walked out of the room and down the hall. He nodded. "Wow, I must have been tired...."

"Well you fell asleep when I was carrying you to your room."

Sarah gave a little laugh. "Yeah, sounds like me.."

"You look tired as well," Masquerade added, nodding to her messy hair and torn clothes. "Was it that tough in the Doom Dimension?"

Sarah nodded. "Darkus Bakugan always attacked us. Tigorra was nearly killed. _Would_ have been if Dan and the others hadn't of shown up."

They walked into a kitchen but a man was in there. He turned around, he looked old. "Oh, Masquerade and Miss Sarah. I am cooking a special meal for breakfast. It should be ready in another hour or so."

Masquerade nodded. "Thank you Harold."

Sarah smiled and nodded her appreciation. Though she didn't want to work for Naga, she had to admit, the mansion was a really nice place.

"Harold!" came a female voice and a girl walked in, she wore a red kimono and had black-blue hair tied up in a ponytail. "I'm starving! When's breakfast!?"

"It will be ready in an hour, Miss Chan," Harold replied.

"Chan," Masquerade said and the girl turned to face him. "I'd like you to meet Sarah. She'll be staying with us for a while."

Chan smiled at Sarah. "Hi, Sarah. It's nice to meet you at last," she put her hand out. "I'm Chan."

Sarah smiled back and took her hand. They shook and took their hands back.

"You look terrible," Chan observed. "Where have you been to make yourself look like this?"

"The Doom Dimension for the past week," Sarah replied with a smile, glancing at Masquerade.

"Wow, and you survived?" Chan was interested. "How did you get out?"

"Masquerade came and got me," Sarah explained.

"Oh..." Chan looked at Masquerade. "Using the Dimension card I imagine."

_The Dimension card_.... Sarah thought.

"Chan, why don't you assist Sarah in getting cleaned up before breakfast," Masquerade told her.

"Yes, of course," Chan said. "Come on, Sarah."

Sarah looked at Masquerade before following Chan out of the kitchen and down hallways.

Sarah was feeling refreshed after she had a bath and Chan gave her some new clothes, dark jeans with rips at the knees and a dark blue, hooded shirt, like her old clothes, only not. Her hair was no longer a mess, it was still a little wet but it was clean, brushed and straight.

She followed Chan to the dining hall, she was glad she remembered to take Tigorra and the other Bakugan out of her old jeans that Chan threw away, she had her belt on and her card holder and Bakugan holder attached to it.

She looked at the long table, covered with food. Masquerade, Billy, Kambo, Clouse and another guy were already sitting down, waiting for Chan and Sarah. The other guy was big muscled, he had a black shirt with a yellow thunderbolt on it, a small white shirt with no sleeves, no hair, blue pants and brown shoes. He didn't look very friendly.

"Hey, Chan," Kambo said. "Hey, kid." He added with a friendly tone.

Chan sat down next to the guy Sarah didn't know. Sarah sat in between Masquerade and Billy.

"You look better than you did yesterday," Masquerade smiled.

"Well yesterday I was a mess," Sarah replied. "I mean, a week having to put up with Darkus Bakugan attacking you, isn't all that fun."

"Well you're not in the Doom Dimension anymore," Billy put in. "So you don't have to worry."

Sarah sighed and looked at the table. "My friends are still there...." she whispered.

Masquerade looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "They'll be fine."

Sarah nodded, but a million things were running through her head, one idea in particular, made her think it was possible. _I have to get them out of there somehow_, she thought. _And there's only one way I can do that. But it would mean betraying Masquerade, and I don't know if I can do that now. Not when I know how good a person he really is. But he won't help me, I'm almost positive about that. So if this **is** the only way, then so be it_. She looked at Masquerade and nodded again.

"Let's eat!" Kambo smiled and started grabbing food from different plates, everyone laughed and did the same.

After a big meal, Sarah was walking around the mansion, looking at everything, guided by her new friend, Billy.

"And this is the study," Billy said, opening a door and Sarah saw shelves and shelves of books and a few computers at desks. "It's big, I know."

"It's not just big," Sarah was wide-eyed. "It's _huge_!"

Billy laughed. "Yeah."

"What kind of books are in here?" Sarah asked, walking in.

"Most of it is about Bakugan and the world's history. Some books are about romance, blame Chan. Others are about adventure and.. well.... most of it is just about Bakugan. Put it that way."

Sarah laughed. "It's cool." She spun in a circle, looking at everything.

Billy hesitated, but asked anyway. "So, if you're staying with us, does that mean you're working for Naga now?"

Sarah stopped spinning and looked at him, he regretted asking. "No, I'm not," she replied simply, her voice light and understanding. "I don't want to, but Masquerade still wants me to stay here. So I will."

Billy nodded. "That makes sense. Sorry."

"That's okay," Sarah smiled and walked out of the room. "So what's there to do around here?"

"Not a lot, honestly," Billy sighed. "You could ask Masquerade if you could go to town and hang out there for a while."

Sarah suddenly flinched as she remembered her mother. She'd be freaked and worried, and her father wouldn't be any better! She ran down the hall. "Thanks for the idea, Billy!" she called over her shoulder. "I'll see you later!"  
Sarah ran down hallways, looking for Masquerade. She checked every room she thought he would be in, but she couldn't find him.

"Hey, Sarah. Where are you going?" she heard Kambo's voice.

Sarah skidded to a stop and she blinked at Kambo. "Did you just call me Sarah?"

"Well I can call you kid if you want me to."

"No," Sarah smiled. "Sarah's fine. Hey, have you seen Masquerade?"

"Yeah, he's talking to someone upstairs," Kambo replied. "Why- Hey wait!"

Sarah had run off again, she ran upstairs and found the room that Masquerade was in the day before. She stopped at the door and caught her breath before knocking on the closed door.

"Who is it?" she heard Masquerade ask.

"It's Sarah," she replied. "I have to ask you something."

"Come on in."

She pushed the double doors open and walked in, she saw Naga on the giant screen.

"Ah, Sarah," Naga said. "How are you feeling today?"

"I was good until I saw you," Sarah grumbled and walked over to Masquerade, ignoring Naga's growl.

"So what was it you wanted to ask me?" Masquerade reminded her.

Sarah opened her mouth but shut it again, looking up at Naga on the screen.

Masquerade seemed to understand. "I will talk to you another time, Naga," he said.

Naga growled. "Don't hang up on me. I have something important for you to do."

"Well I'll get to it later," Masquerade sighed. "See ya." he pressed a button on the keyboard and the screen went black.

"Do you always talk like that to him?" Sarah asked.

"No," Masquerade replied. "Now....."

"Oh yeah," Sarah jolted back to why she was there. "I wanted to know if I could go home and tell my parents that I'm okay. They'd be really worried and I don't want them to be. I'll only be a few hours and then I'll come back, I promise. Please, Masquerade."  
Masquerade looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Of course. I trust that you'll come back. Just don't be too long or I'll have to come and get you."

Sarah smiled and unexpectedly hugged him. "Thanks!" she said before letting him go and racing out of the room.

Masquerade tilted his head a bit to the side, a little shocked. "She keeps getting weirder and weirder every day."

Sarah ran towards the entrance to the mansion, she saw Clouse stand in her way and she skidded to a stop in front of him. "Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Masquerade said I could go to tell my parents that I'm okay," Sarah replied. "I have to be back in a few hours or he'll come get me."

Clouse nodded and stepped out of her way. "Okay then."

Sarah ran out the door but stopped when she realized how far she'd have to go just to reach the end of the driveway.

"Need a lift into town?" she heard a familiar voice that she seemed to smile every time she heard it. She turned and saw no one. Then he jumped down from the roof and stood in front of her.

"Monkey," she joked. "Don't you also hang out in trees?"

Masquerade laughed. "Sometimes."

Sarah smiled. "So, about that ride..."

He smiled back. "Yeah, come on. I'll drive you home so you can talk to your parents."

"My mother will recognize you," Sarah sighed and followed Masquerade over to a black car that looked really cool. "Don't blame me if she gets mad."  
"Well if you tell her you're just fine and you're happy where you are, then she will let you go," Masquerade explained, then he cringed. "You are happy here, right?"

Sarah nodded, he breathed. She got into the car and watched as he started it up and drove down the driveway.

It was silence the whole way into town, Masquerade didn't seem bothered. Sarah was pleased that he had allowed her to see her parents and tell them she was okay. He did have a good side, people just needed to get to know him more to understand that.

"Do you ever take your mask off?" Sarah dared to ask.

"Rarely," he replied straight away, not bothered by the question.

"Why?"

"I just don't."

Sarah nodded, she didn't want to press for answers, she didn't want him getting mad at her. "Um... Masquerade?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for hugging you before," she said. "I was just excited and I wasn't thinking."

He smiled. "That's okay. I don't mind."

Sarah remembered when he told her that he liked her, she went a little red in the face. _What's wrong with me_!? She thought. _I'm confusing myself. At one stage I assumed I liked Dan, but now...._ she looked at Masquerade. _Could things be different? Could I possibly like **Masquerade**_!?

The rest of the way was silence. Sarah nearly jumped out of her seat when Masquerade stopped at the front of her house. She stayed in the car for a moment, suddenly unsure. "I changed my mind!" she said. "I can't!"

"Yes, you can," Masquerade said calmly and quietly. "It'll be fine. I'll come with you."

She looked at him and slowly nodded. "Thanks."


	7. Chapter 7

Her head swung around when she heard the front door open, she saw her mother and father at the door, curious as to who was out the front of their house. They couldn't see through the windows because they were tinted.

"Come on," Masquerade encouraged and she took a deep breath before she took her seatbelt off and opened the car door. They both got out and Masquerade joined Sarah before they walked up to her parents, Sarah's parents were stunned.

"SARAH!" her mother said and hugged her tightly, Masquerade stepped back before he was knocked over. "Where have you been this whole time!?!?!?!?!"

"I've been..." Sarah looked at Masquerade. "Staying somewhere else."

Sarah's father looked Masquerade up and down with a serious gaze. "With this boy?"

"Uh... yeah," Sarah replied. "But there's other people too," she added quickly.

"I remember this young boy," her mother said and looked at Masquerade. "You came around last week to talk to her. Now, I want to know exactly what it was that you two spoke about.."

Sarah couldn't answer that, she didn't know any stories that could make her mother believe it.

"I wanted to ask her if she would like to join me and the others at the mansion," Masquerade answered simply as if it was the truth. "She agreed and so she's been with me for the past week. She has been in great care."

"Surely you're too old for our daughter," Sarah's father said and Sarah slapped her face.

"DAD!" she growled. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Masquerade just laughed.

"Hey, what's so funny!?" she grumbled.

"Nothing," Masquerade settled down.

"You haven't hurt her, have you?" Sarah father growled, Sarah flinched.

"No!" Masquerade replied in a small burst of laughter. "Why would I hurt someone that shines as beautifully as the light from the sun?" Sarah felt her cheeks heat up and she knew she was blushing at the comment, although she knew he had hurt her, not wanting to. She reflected on the time he threw her into the drinking fountain and it smashed, sending water spraying everywhere. It was partially her fault for calling him a filthy rat. Her father growled at the comment Masquerade gave to his daughter.

"Sarah, we want you to come home," her father growled. "We don't think it's a good idea that you're staying with this boy."

"I'm happy staying with him and the others," Sarah objected. "I want to stay with them."

"Well we don't agree," her father argued. "You're too young to leave home anyway! You're not allowed to stay with this boy. Now come inside. I think you should leave now," he added to Masquerade.

Sarah shook her head and hugged Masquerade around the waist, considering he _was_ taller than her, her face was hidden in his buttoned-up long white jacket that nearly reached his ankles, but the buttons only ended in the middle of his stomach. Masquerade was taken by surprise, again. "I told you," she said to Masquerade.

"She's quite happy with us," Masquerade told her mother and father. "I believe she does have a choice. She is fifteen after all, nearly sixteen."

"And how old are you?" Sarah's mother asked.

"Does it matter!?" Sarah growled. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"I'm seventeen," Masquerade replied.

"And if he's not your boyfriend then why are you hugging him like that?" she heard her father growl.

Sarah froze, looking up at Masquerade, he looked down at her.

"So are you two together, or not?"

Sarah was about to growl something but Masquerade put a hand over her mouth. "Yeah, okay, you got us. We are together," he said to Sarah's father.

Sarah's eyes blazed with confusion and nervousness. She was scared of what her father would say now.

Her father growled louder than Sarah had ever heard him growl. "That's it! Sarah, you're staying here!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Masquerade. Sarah grabbed Masquerade's hand to try and not be pulled into her house, but his hand slipped from hers and he turned and got back into the car, driving off.

"Masquerade!?" Sarah called.

"Masquerade!?" her mother echoed. "That's the name of the boy that Dan said you lost to last week in that Bakugan marble game!"

_Why did he just leave_? Sarah thought, but then she felt the corners of her mouth form a smirk. _Oh, that's why_.........

"Go to your room!" her father yelled.

"Fine!" Sarah yelled back and walked upstairs to her room.

"Don't yell at me young lady!" her father yelled again and followed her to her room. "You're grounded for a month-" She slammed her door shut in his face and locked it. "Open this door!"

"No-can-do," Sarah smiled as she saw Masquerade lean against the door, his arms crossed. She childishly grabbed the door handle and shook it. "It won't open!"

"Open this door!" her father yelled.

"Damn he can yell loud!" Masquerade complained.

Sarah laughed as her father banged on the door. "How did you get up there, boy!? You drove off!"

"Yeah, but I have my connections," Masquerade smiled. "Ready to go now, Sarah?"

"Sarah, don't you dare go with him!" her father growled, she could hear her mother fiddling with the phone and dialing a three digit number.

"Let's go," Sarah said when she heard her mother ask for the police. "Before the cops get here."

Masquerade put a hand out and she smiled before taking it. He pulled out his Dimension card with his other hand and in a moment, they were no longer in Sarah's room.

The door swung open and Sarah's dad saw no one. "Where'd they go!?"

"Yes, police," Sarah's mother said. "Our daughter has run off with a boy with a mask. We need you to find her as soon as possible before she gets hurt!"

Sarah cracked up laughing when her and Masquerade were back in the car and he continued driving down the road. "That was funny!"

"It sure was. He was mad beyond hell!" Masquerade smiled.

Sarah looked at him. "It's good to know this side of you, Masquerade," she smiled. "You're not all serious and forcing me to help Naga."

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said last week..."

"Which was?"

"Something about Naga gaining his power and tossing his allies aside. And also something or other about you preferring to go down fighting Naga than helping him."

"So, why have you been thinking about it?"

"Well, I think you're right," he sighed.

Sarah's eyes widened. "So you're against Naga now?"  
"You could say that, yes."

Sarah smiled.

"Sarah! What are you doing!?"

Sarah looked at her shoulder and saw Tigorra. "What do you mean, Tigorra?"

"Masquerade is the enemy!"

"No, he's not," Sarah sighed. "He's a good guy."

"How can you trust him!? He gave you those dreams! He tried to kill you in those dreams!-"

"He didn't want to," Sarah argued. "It was all Naga!"

"I still don't trust him!"

"I'm not asking you to. But _**I**_ trust him!" Sarah growled.

"How can you!?"

Sarah looked at Masquerade, he looked back at her. "I don't know....." she murmured. "But I do."

"He left the others in the Doom Dimension!"

Sarah looked at Tigorra, and then back at Masquerade. "But I know a way we can get them out of there..."

Masquerade looked at the road, and then back at Sarah. "You mean the Dimension card?"

Sarah nodded. "If we bring them back to this world, we can fight Naga together, all of us. And I mean, _**all**_ of us."

Masquerade understood. "Sounds like a plan, and a pretty good one."

"So, are we going to do it?"

He nodded. "But not yet, we'll tell the others first, see what they think."

Sarah smiled and realized her hand was still holding his, he noticed to. They took their hands back. "Thank you, Masquerade," she murmured.

"No problem," he smiled.

"Oh and one more thing...." Sarah added cheekily.

"What is it?"

"Do I really shine as beautifully as the light from the sun?"

"We're walking in circles!" Bella growled.

"Well I don't suppose you know the way to go!?" Tigrerra growled.

"Did I say that!?"

"No, but you were probably thinking it," Runo added.

"I was not!"

"Chill out, Bella-"

"No, I will not 'chill out', Julie! Now get off my case!"

"Stop snapping at everyone," Morucho said. "It's not helping."

"Us fighting isn't helping!" Shun growled. "But there's no way out of here!"

Bella jumped off of Wolfress's head and sat on the ground, leaning her back against a rock.

"What are you doing now?" Gorem asked.

"Sitting down. We should take a break and consider what to do."

"She's right," Drago said and landed on the ground. "If we have figured out that there's no escape from the Doom Dimension, then we should think of whether to give up or keep trying."

"Well I say we keep trying," Dan said. "If Masquerade has hurt Sarah, I'll kill him!"

"Chill out, lover-boy," Bella teased. Dan froze up and looked at her. She smirked. "I'm sure she's fine, probably trying to run away from him as we speak."

Dan was still frozen. She just called him lover-boy. Did she know that there was a chance he might like Sarah? _He_ was even considering that he liked her.

"Maybe," Shun said as Skyress landed. "But she can handle herself right now. We have to worry about us, and how we're going to get out of here. I don't think we should give up."

"Well I can't feel anything that would suggest a way out of here," Gorem said.

"Yeah, and Gorem is like, the top boss," Prayus said.

"We just need to keep trying," Skyress murmured.

"Alright, but for now we should rest," Bella sighed. "I'm tired."

The others jumped down to her side, besides Dan, and they all agreed with her.

"Drago, you and I should check the skies in case any Bakugan are coming," Dan said.

"You're right, Dan," Drago said and flew into the sky again.

"Guys, come on, don't you realize that when Naga is through with you, you're dead!?" Sarah said "He wants his power and when he gets it he'll toss you aside, regardless!"

"So what," Kambo said. "What are you saying we do? Turn against him and fight to protect the world? He'll kill us if we went against him!"

"And he'll kill you for helping him," Masquerade said. "Now, would you rather die a hero, or a traitor to the human world and the Bakugan world?"

"You do have a bit of a point," Billy mumbled.

"But it's just the seven of us," Clouse said. "How can we fight Naga with just ourselves. We don't have enough strength."

"We can fix that," Sarah smiled and looked at Masquerade, he looked back at her. "We can bring the Brawlers to help us."

"But they're in the Doom Dimension!" Kambo said.

"So was I," Sarah pointed out. "But with the Dimension card, we can bring them back, then we'll be strong enough to face Naga."

"We should do it," Chan said, "I don't feel like dying because I helped Naga destroy the world."

"Yeah, you're right," Billy smiled. "Let's do it."

The others agreed and Sarah and Masquerade smiled. "Let's go get them," Masquerade said and held out his hand, holding the Dimension card in his other hand.

Sarah took his hand and they were suddenly in another place, a black land spread far and the sky was dark. She expected Tigorra to be in her real form, but she was still in a ball. "Now we just need to find them," she murmured.

"Throw Tigorra out," Masquerade said.

"What?"

"Throw her."

"Why?"

"She'll go to her real form, then we can look for them quicker," Masquerade threw a black ball and a huge beast rose up, she knew it was Hydranoid.

She nodded as Masquerade jumped up on Hydranoid's back. She threw Tigorra and watched as she became a huge tiger. She jumped up on Tigorra's head.

"If you can't find them, meet me back here," Masquerade said and he and Hydranoid went one way.

"Come on, Tigorra," Sarah said. "Let's go find Dan and the others."

"You know he could leave us here," Tigorra growled as she walked in one direction.

"He won't," Sarah assured her Bakugan. She cupped her hands over her mouth. "DAN! BELLA! SHUN! RUNO! JULIE! MORUCHO!"

They walked a fair distance, Sarah was getting tired of calling out for her friends. "Where could they be?" she wondered.

"Let's go."

"Where to?" Bella grumbled. "We won't get out of here."

"Come on, Bella!" Runo sighed.

Bella lay down on the ground. "I'm tired."

"Then rest on my head," Wolfress said. "But we have to keep moving."

"Why?"

"Because, even if we are stuck here for good, there are still Bakugan around that can attack us. We don't want to get into a battle," Drago put in.

Bella sighed and didn't budge so much as an inch. "I'm still not moving."

"Please don't be stubborn, Bella," Shun grumbled. "This isn't a good time and place to be stubborn."

Bella mumbled something and heard a sound. She sat up, expecting to hear it again. She did. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Prayus asked.

Bella listened again and she heard it once more. "That."

"I didn't hear anything," Morucho replied.

"Bella! Dan! Shun! Everybody!"

"I heard that," Tigrerra said. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Bella stood up.

Suddenly, Tigrerra tensed up and crouched down, preparing to leap at something.

Bella turned around to see what it was and she saw a bit of white fur rising over a large rock, then she saw a tiger's face.

"Wait a second, Tigrerra," Runo said.

Bella blinked, not believing what she was seeing.

"Guys! I found you!"

"Sarah!?" Drago exclaimed.

Dan sat up from lying on Drago's head, looking at the tiger. It was Tigorra, and on top of her head was a black-haired girl, smiling. She jumped down and stepped forward. "That's me."

Bella smiled widely. "What!? How!? When!?"

"I used Masquerade's Dimension card to come and get you out of the Doom Dimension," Sarah smiled back. "But there's something I need to tell you first-"

"Someone else is here!" Tigrerra spun around, growling. Everyone turned their heads and saw Masquerade on Hydranoid's head.

Dan growled. "Let's get him, Drago!"

Drago rose into the air using his wings and opened his mouth.

"Dan, no!" Sarah yelled and ran towards Masquerade and Hydranoid.

"Boosted Dragon!" Drago said and a huge ball of fire came out of his mouth, flying for Hydranoid.

"NO!" Sarah yelled again and stopped in front of Hydranoid, putting her arms out.

"Sarah!" Masquerade exclaimed and jumped down, putting one hand around her, pulling her close to him, and one hand on her head so she couldn't see what was happening. She put her arms up against his chest and hid her face in his shirt.

"Oh, no! SARAH!" Bella screamed.

Masquerade and Sarah tensed up, ready for the fire to hit.

"I don't think so," Hydranoid said and opened his mouth, a purple ball forming with electricity flowing inside of it. He spat it out and it flew for the fireball.


	8. Chapter 8

The two powers collided and exploded, making smoke go everywhere. Once it cleared, Dan looked at Sarah, being protected by Masquerade, she didn't seem to mind him holding her.

Masquerade let go of Sarah and she stepped back, looking up at him. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied. "Thank you."

"Sarah, what did you think you were doing, putting yourself in danger like that!?" Drago growled.

Sarah turned to face her friends. "Masquerade isn't the enemy!"

"Are you kidding!?" Shun yelled. "He took you against your will for a full day and before that, he hurt you and gave you those dreams-"

"He didn't want to!" Sarah objected. "Masquerade helped me! He's not helping Naga anymore! He wants to take down Naga and that's why we're here, to bring you back so we can take down Naga together!"

Dan didn't look happy. "How can we trust him?"

Sarah glared at him. "You don't have to trust him, but do you trust _me_ at least?"

"You know I trust you...."

"Then trust me when I say Masquerade is a friend, not an enemy."

Dan growled quietly. "Why would he want to help us all of a sudden?"

Sarah sighed. "He understands that Naga will destroy him when he gets what he wants..."

"Last week, Sarah said she would rather go down fighting Naga than going down for helping him," Masquerade said. "That's what helped me understand. Everything that I ever did to hurt Sarah was because Naga forced me to do it. I never really wanted to hurt her."

Bella grumbled. "Is that why you told her you liked her? To make her start thinking that you didn't want to hurt her?"

"I guess you could say that," Masquerade replied. "But I was telling the truth. I won't lie to Sarah."

Dan still looked unconvinced. Sarah growled. "Look, Dan, and everybody else. If you don't want to trust Masquerade and come back with us to help fight Naga, then you can stay in the Doom Dimension if that's your choice! If not, are we gonna get out of here or not!?"

"Calm down, Sarah," Masquerade said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I understand why they refuse to trust me."

"But I trust you, even after everything you did to me," Sarah murmured. "I don't see why _they_ can't trust you."

Dan was stunned. _How can she be taking his side!? He's the enemy! He's the one who sent her here and forced her to leave us! How can she trust that guy_!? He thought.

Sarah turned to Dan. "Please. Believe me, Masquerade isn't the enemy now. Naga is, and we want to take him down and stop him from taking over the two worlds! Now are you going to help us or aren't you!?"

"Well, is there food where we're going?" Bella asked.

"Yes."

"Then let's go!"

Sarah looked at the others. "What about you guys?"

Runo, Morucho and Julie nodded. After a short pause, Shun sighed. "Alright."

"Dan?" Sarah murmured.

Dan was silent, looking into Sarah's clear blue gaze. She was afraid of what he was going to say. Would he refuse?

After a few minutes that seemed like a lifetime, he opened his mouth. "I don't trust Masquerade," he replied in a cold tone and Sarah felt tears in her eyes, knowing he would refuse. "But I trust _you_, Sarah," he finished, his voice gentle and quiet. "And if you say Masquerade isn't against us, I'll put up with it."

Sarah smiled, she wanted to run over to Dan and hug him, but her feet wouldn't let her move, she stayed by Masquerade.

"Then let's go and plan this out," Masquerade said and held up his Dimension card. He smiled and held out his other hand, Sarah smiled and took it. Dan watched in amazement, she was holding his hand!?

A brilliant bright light appeared from the card and engulfed everybody, Sarah could see nothing but white. In an instant, they were in a large room, the Bakugan were tiny balls again.

Sarah took her hand from Masquerade and picked up Tigorra, putting her in her pocket, the others did pretty much the same.

"Where are we?" Julie wondered.

"In the mansion," Sarah replied. "This is where Masquerade lives, and the others..."

"Others!?" Dan and Shun exclaimed.

"Yeah," Sarah sighed. "Billy, Kambo, Chan, Clouse and that other guy."

"Billy!?" Julie was stunned. "He used to be my next door neighbour!"

Sarah looked at Masquerade, and when he nodded, she ran off.

"Sarah!" Dan yelled.

"She'll be right back," Masquerade smiled.

"Where'd she go?" Dan growled.

"You'll find out."

"What the!? Where are you taking me, miss!?"

Everyone turned and looked to where Sarah had disappeared and they saw her dragging a boy with long blond hair into the large, ballroom like, room.

Julie was surprised and her eyes sparkled. "Billy!?"

Billy looked at Julie, suddenly scared. "Uh... Julie..... Hi....."

Julie was mad all of a sudden. "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING, BILLY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Sorry," Billy said. "But I was working for Naga."

"Not anymore," Sarah smiled. "And Billy?"

"Yes, miss?"

"Please stop calling me 'miss', call me Sarah."

"Uh....... Okay.... Sarah...."

"Thank you- AH!"

Sarah fell backwards as Julie pushed passed her and hugged Billy fiercely. She would have hit the floor if Masquerade hadn't grabbed her and lifted her to her feet. "Clumsy," he smiled. "You run into everybody and you trip over everything!"

Sarah playfully punched his chest. "I do not!"

"Do to."

Sarah turned her back on him, crossing her arms and looking stubborn. "Humph!"

Masquerade shook his head. "Child."

"I am not!"

"Are so."

Dan and the others blinked at how well the two of them got along, Dan felt something burning inside of him. _This isn't normal! How can she treat him like that, as if they've been friends forever!? For some reason, it makes me annoyed that she's with him, messing around like a child_.... His eyes widened. _She can't like him, can she!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! No! She can't! No way_!

"Anyway....." Bella said. "Where's the kitchen?" She looked around as if she was going to run wherever someone pointed.

"I'll show you," Masquerade said and walked in one direction. Bella looked unsure.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Are you hungry or not?"

Bella sighed and ran to catch up with Masquerade.

"Sarah, can I talk to you for a moment?" Dan said.

Sarah looked at him and was about to reply but someone called her name. She turned to see Chan. "What's the matter, Chan?"

"Naga is on the video screen, he says he wants to talk to you."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Why does he want to talk to me?"

"I don't know," Chan took her arm and dragged her off. "But you should go find out."

Sarah looked over her shoulder at Dan, she'd talk to him later. She ran after Chan and up to the top floor. They stopped and Sarah caught her breath. Chan opened the doors and waited at the entrance, Sarah walked in and Chan closed the doors.

Sarah looked up at the screen at the black dragon. "What do you want, Naga?"

"To ask you if you've decided to join us," Naga replied. "I need you and Masquerade to do a job for me."

Sarah thought for a moment, a small smirk crossing her face. She suddenly dropped onto one knee and bowed her head. "I have made up my mind, Master Naga. What is the job you require Masquerade and myself to do?"

Naga laughed. "I want you to go to the Doom Dimension and destroy the Brawlers."

Sarah growled very quietly, but she forced her voice to sound calm. "Naga, we have already done that. We did it earlier."

"Very good," Naga laughed again. "You may go now, I will ask you to do something soon."

Sarah stood up again and turned to leave.

"Sarah."

She turned and looked at Naga again. "Yes?"

"Don't disappoint me, you are a great aspect to me. It is important that we get the Infinity Core."

She nodded. "I understand, Master Naga."

Naga nodded and the screen went black, then Sarah left the dark room, meeting Chan on the way out.

"What did he say?" Chan asked.

"He asked me if I was joining him or not," Sarah said. "I said yes, that way he won't think anything is going on."

Chan nodded. "That was a great idea. Should we tell Masquerade about this?"

Sarah shrugged. "It's not that important but I suppose. Let's go tell him now."

Chan smiled and Sarah walked with her down the stairs. Sarah noticed an eagerness in her movements as they walked. She smirked. "Chan?"

"Yes?"

"You like him, don't you?"

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about," Sarah said. "Masquerade. I can tell that you like him."

Chan went red. "Yeah, but he likes you."

Sarah tensed. "What makes you say that?"

"It's plainly obvious," Chan replied. "Even the others think so."

Sarah felt her own face going red. "Well... uh.... he's just.. my friend..."

Chan smiled and they walked into the kitchen, meeting Masquerade and Bella, who was raiding the fridge.

"Geez...." Sarah mumbled. "I last a week in the Doom Dimension without food and you can't last a day or two?"

Bella turned to look at her and grumbled before turning back to the fridge.

Sarah sighed. "Oh yeah. Masquerade, Naga asked for me just before. He asked me if I had decided to join him."

Bella froze to the spot, but that was all, she seemed curious. Masquerade just stood there. "What did you say?"

"I said yes, but that was only not to arouse suspicion," Sarah assured him. "After all, we are working to take him down. It won't work if he's expecting us."

Masquerade nodded. "Good thinking."

Sarah smiled. "I know. I'm so smart."

Masquerade put a hand on her head. "Don't get cocky."

Sarah grumbled and crossed her arms, putting on her stubborn face. "Meanie."

"I found food!" Bella announced.

"Congratulations," Masquerade said sarcastically in a friendly tone. "No doubt you would have found food in the fridge. I would have been surprised if you didn't."

Bella mumbled and took out a bowl of food, Sarah knew it was unhealthy stuff.

Sarah blinked open her eyes, got up out of her bed and walked to the door. It was dark outside and everyone was asleep, but she heard footsteps up the hall.

She opened the door a crack and looked out, she didn't see anyone. She shrugged, opened the door fully and walked out, walking down the hall.

She heard more footsteps, behind her. She spun around and came face to face with Dan. He quickly covered her mouth before she could yelp in surprise and she calmed down. He took his hand away. "Sorry," he murmured.

"Don't worry about it," Sarah murmured back. "And I'm sorry about earlier, you didn't get a chance to talk to me."

Dan sighed. "Well, can I talk to you now?"

"Of course, but let's go outside where we can talk without whispering," Sarah said and led the way through the mansion. They eventually got outside and they sat in front of the big water fountain. "So what did you want to speak to me about?"

"Well...I don't know... it's just....." Dan fumbled for words.

"Dan," Sarah sighed. "Just tell me already."

"The way you were acting around Masquerade earlier... I don't know.. it just...."

Sarah tensed. "What about it?" she sounded calm.

"Don't get mad," he said, looking at the ground. "It kinda annoyed me somehow."

Sarah tilted her head. "Annoyed you? How?"

"Well......" Dan looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath, but then he looked frustrated. "Never mind. Don't worry about it." He got up to leave.

"Dan, wait!" Sarah was getting nervous. "What's going on?"

"It just seems like you like the guy," Dan said, a hint of a growl in his voice.

"So that's it," Sarah murmured, standing up. Dan turned around to face her. "Look, Dan. Masquerade is only my friend, he helped me a little, he let me see my parents to tell them I'm okay, he didn't force me to join Naga and he told me the truth. But you know what? The entire time I was here, I couldn't stop thinking about you...."

Dan looked as if he was confused.

"When he first brought me here," Sarah explained. "I was so upset because I thought you'd be trapped in the Doom Dimension forever because of me. I missed you, and I was really worried that you'd get hurt." Sarah looked into his eyes. "I was scared for you."

Suddenly, Dan pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly. "I missed you so much," Dan murmured.

"Same here," Sarah replied, lifting her arms and hugging him in return. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Dan hugged her a little tighter. "I don't want to lose you."

Sarah smiled. "You won't..." _I hope_...

"Everything okay out here?"

Sarah and Dan separated and looked at Shun. "Yeah, everything's fine," Dan breathed.

Shun looked amused. "I overheard your conversation. Bella would find this funny."

"Why?" Sarah asked, she knew the answer.

"You know her," Shun smiled. "Always giving back what you give to her."

Sarah sighed. "You mean my song?" He nodded and she grumbled. "Don't tell her," She mumbled.

"Why not?" Shun asked.

"Because I'll kill you if you do," Sarah threatened.

"Oh really?" Shun smirked and turned to walk inside.

Sarah yelped and ran over to him, grabbing his shoulders and stopping him. "Don't tell Bella!"

"Don't tell me what?" Sarah heard a voice yawning. She looked over her shoulder at Bella.

"Geez, no one gets much sleep around here," Sarah muttered to herself. "Don't worry Bella. Go back to bed."

"I want to know," Bella mumbled, really tired.

"Sarah and Dan like each other-" Shun managed to say. Sarah was too late to cover his mouth.

Bella was wide awake now. "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! Sarah and Dan, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!!" Bella fell backwards laughing, holding her stomach.

Sarah sighed and started walking back inside.

"Sarah, where are you going?" Bella asked, settling down.

"Bed. I'm tired," Sarah murmured. "Good night guys."

Bella was trying so hard not to laugh as Sarah walked inside. Sarah heard Bella say something to Dan but she couldn't make out the words.

"Sarah?"

"Yes, Tigorra?"

"You should make up your mind about who you like."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, looking at her Bakugan on her shoulder.

"I know you like Dan, I can tell," Tigorra said. "But hasn't there been even a moment where you considered whether or not you liked Masquerade too?"

Sarah was silent for a moment, then her head dropped. "To be honest. I'm not so sure."

"Sarah, wake up!"

Sarah opened her eyes a tiny bit. "What?" she muttered.

"We have to figure out what we're going to do about Naga," Kambo sighed. "We're discussing it over breakfast. So get up and come on."

Sarah mumbled something and got up, yawning and stretching as she followed Kambo down the hall and into the dining hall. Everyone was seated except her and Kambo, so they went and sat down. Sarah sat in between Masquerade and Billy again, she watched Dan narrow his eyes. But it was that or sit in between Clouse and the guy she still didn't know.

They all grabbed some food and started eating, it was Masquerade who broke the silence. "So, who has an idea of how we can take down Naga?"

Sarah thought for a moment. _I have an idea_, she thought. _But I'll wait and see what the others think of_.....

We could go find him and use our Bakugan to take him down when he least expects it!" Julie piped up.

"Anyone else with a better idea?" Masquerade sighed. "No offense girl, but that wouldn't work."

"Why not!?" Julie growled.

"Because he's too strong for that," Billy answered. "Even with all of us, we probably won't meet half of his strength."

"We could try," Sarah heard Morucho's Bakugan, Prayus, and he appeared on the blond boy's shoulder.

"Any more ideas?" Masquerade sighed.

Sarah waited for a moment, and Masquerade was about to speak again, but she beat him to it. "I have an idea!"

Everyone looked at her.

"Go on," Masquerade encouraged.

Sarah looked at Masquerade. "Billy's right. Us alone won't match Naga's full strength. So....."

"So... what?" Bella asked.

"What if we get every other Brawler to help us," Sarah smiled, but was a little nervous suggesting it. "We could wait until Naga decides to attack the world and find the Infinity Core within a Bakugan named Wyvrin. After that, we can get every Brawler around town to fight with us."

Everybody blinked at me.  
"With that many numbers, we should be able to match his strength. And the Infinity Core could be the key to defeating Naga. After all, they are the opposite of each other. The Infinity Core has positive energy, the Silent Core has negative energy. Put them against each other and which one do you think will win?"

"Positive energy..." Chan murmured the answer.

"Exactly," Sarah nodded. "But it could still be hard work for Wyvrin to fight Naga, that's why we get every Brawler around town to help us, so then we can weaken him first!"

"That's actually a really good idea," Masquerade smiled. "It could work."

"But we'd only have one shot at it," Shun pointed out. "And who knows how many people will help us fight Naga."

"Yeah, he's right," Bella said.

"Of course he is," Sarah rolled her eyes. "Because you like him."

"Well you like-"  
"Does it really matter?" Sarah cut in. "If every Brawler has the chance to show off their Bakugan and save the world from being destroyed, they will help us."

"It's a better idea than Julie's," Kambo said.

"But we'll only have one shot," Dan argued on Shun's side. "It's not worth the risk. We should try and take down Naga _before_ he decides to attack the world!"

"Come on!" Sarah complained. "It's worth a shot!"

"And if we muck up, we're dead!" Dan growled. "Think clearer, Sarah!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Sarah growled back.

"Okay, okay, calm down you two!" Runo said. "No need to snap at each other. Dan, Sarah's idea is good. If we try to take on Naga with just us, we're doomed."

"There's a chance that we could win!" Dan argued.

"Yeah, and with just us, if we stuff up, we're dead, and no one else will stand up to Naga because they'll be too scared!"

_This girl has a very good point_.

"Your idea is stupid!" Dan growled. "It's doomed to fail!"

"Yours isn't any better!" Sarah growled back and stood up, turned and stormed off.

Dan sighed and was about to stand up. "Dan, let me talk to her. You've wound her up enough."

"You okay, Sarah?"

"Yeah, I'm perfect!" Sarah growled sarcastically and pulled one of the pillows from under her head and covered her face with it. "What do you want, Masquerade?"

Masquerade sighed and walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He walked over to Sarah and sat on the bed beside her, she didn't move, she just lied there with a pillow over her face.

Masquerade sighed and took the pillow in his hand, gently taking it from Sarah, she just let him take it and she looked up at him. "Calm down, Sarah," Masquerade smiled. "Your idea is good. Most of the others agree as well- Oh Sarah," he sighed when he saw the tears running down the side of her face.

"He doesn't trust me, he doesn't think I can come up with good ideas and he gets annoyed with me all the time," Sarah tried not to cry, but it was hard, and her voice sounded a little choked and really emotional.

"Everyone can be like that," Masquerade encouraged. "Cheer up, it's not the end of the world."

"You understand me," Sarah mumbled, sitting up. "You trust me, you like my ideas and you don't get annoyed with me. Why does he?"

"Not everybody is the same," Masquerade answered.

Sarah hugged him and he hugged her back. "I'm just glad you're here with me. You've done so much for me. Thank you..."

Masquerade broke the hug and Sarah looked up at him. He lifted a hand and held her chin, gently making her look at him directly. "You don't need to thank me, Sarah. I'm glad to be here for you, and I'm glad to help you. You know how I feel about you."

Sarah blinked when she realized what was going on, but she didn't try to stop it.


End file.
